ATM use leads to suspect in fashion designer’s killing
Kenneth Chua FACEBOOK PHOTO
A P20,000 bank withdrawal using the ATM card of slain fashion designer Kenneth Chua led police to the suspect, a Caloocan City resident once employed by the victim at his Makati City shop.
Rogelio Aquiat, a master cutter who stopped working for Chua in December last year, was arrested around 3 p.m. Wednesday at his house in Camarin, a day after the designer was found dead at his residence on Dayap Street, Barangay (village) Palanan, Makati.
Chua, 38, bore at least five stab wounds in the body, his face bruised and his neck slashed, when found by his parents in the bathroom around 11 a.m. Tuesday. They last spoke with their son around 4:30 p.m. the previous day.
The victim’s hands were bound, while his house showed no signs of forced entry, according to investigators.
The case initially seemed difficult to crack, according to the Makati police chief, Senior Supt. Manuel Lukban. “But the physical evidence found at the crime scene pointed directly to the suspect.”
“The first question we had was why were his hands tied? We thought the killer wanted something from him,” the official said.
The police later gathered that Chua’s ATM (automated teller machine) card, wallet and cell phone were missing. “The killer might have forced the victim to divulge the PIN (personal identification number) of his ATM card,” Lukban said.
Investigators contacted Chua’s bank and discovered that someone withdrew P20,000 using Chua’s ATM card around 4 a.m. Tuesday in Camarin. The killer may have withdrawn the cash from the victim’s account immediately after the attack, Lukban added.
A security camera footage capturing the withdrawal at the ATM booth was later shown to Chua’s parents and they recognized the ATM user to be their son’s former employee.
Robbery with murder charges were set to be filed Wednesday against Aquiat in the Makati prosecutor’s office.
Chua was reportedly a fashion designer for a Sunday variety show of ABS-CBN network.
