Suspect in slay linked to Fil-Am surrenders
OLONGAPO CITY—Police are now in custody of a suspect in the slaying of a 23-year-old woman whose body was found in a dike in San Felipe, Zambales, last month, Mayor Rolen Paulino said.
Paulino said Niño de la Cruz, one of two suspects in the killing of Karie Ces “Aika” Mojica, was arrested by members of the police’s Special Action Force (SAF) in Metro Manila after almost three weeks of a region-wide hunt.
Mojica, a resident of Barangay Sta. Rita here and an employee of a local supermarket, was found dead at a portion of the Sto. Tomas River dike in San Felipe on July 25.
De la Cruz and another suspect, Filipino-American Jonathan Dewayne Viane, 29, had been charged with murder at a regional trial court in Zambales. Viane was able to leave for the United States on July 26 as police started the hunt against them.
De la Cruz was accompanied by his mother when he surrendered to members of the SAF Force Intelligence and Investigation Division (FIID) at a shopping mall in Muntinlupa City.
He was turned over to the Zambales police on Wednesday night while waiting for a commitment order from the court. On Thursday, he was transferred to the Zambales provincial jail in the capital town of Iba.
The victim’s relatives said while the arrest was a good development in the case, they were hoping that Viane would soon be arrested.
“I’m thankful for those who arrested him and I hope this will help us serve justice for my daughter,” said Josar Mojica, the victim’s father, on Wednesday.
He said the arrest would also shed light on the suspects’ real motive. “I don’t know how to describe what I feel now. Even if he (De la Cruz) was arrested, that will not bring back my daughter’s life,” he said.
Mojica’s family appealed to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to ask the US Department of Justice to issue a provisional arrest warrant against Viane.
The elder Mojica suspected that his daughter had been dragged into the Viane’s marital problem. He said his daughter and the suspect’s wife, who is based in the US, were friends. Allan Macatuno, Inquirer Central Luzon
