Couple found dead in mall parking lot
A couple who were found unconscious in a mall parking lot in Daang Hari, Las Piñas, last Thursday apparently died from ingesting a toxic substance, police said yesterday.
Juliet Yap Escano, a bank manager, and her husband Jose Maria, 50, a pharmaceutical sales manager, died on arrival at the Metro South Medical Center in Cavite, and the Las Piñas Medical Center, respectively, where they were taken after they were found, a police report said.
According to the initial findings of police scene-of-crime investigators, the two died of “shock, secondary to [the] ingestion of [a] toxic substance.”
Morgan Gerobise, a security guard at the mall, told the police that he was doing his rounds at the parking lot when he found Jose Maria lying unconscious on the ground behind the couple’s parked Toyota Innova. He found Escano’s wife seated in front of the car, also unconscious.
There were reports on social media that the couple had just eaten at a fastfood chain in the unnamed mall.
However, Chief Insp. Rey Viloria of the Las Piñas police said the case was still under investigation.
“We can’t conclude anything yet,” he said.
