Men’s mag model, three others slain in Olongapo
By Tonette Orejas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 08:21:00 03/13/2008
CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga, Philippines – (UPDATE 2) Police found signs of murder and arson in the death of four people, including a model of the men’s magazine FHM, in a fire that destroyed an apartment in Olongapo City Thursday morning.
Two of the victims, identified as George Vitug Castor Jr., 27, and Von Mark Bandejas, 22, were found sprawled in the living room with their hands tied.
Castor’s reported live-in partner, Scarlet Garcia, 23, said to be an FHM model, was found inside the toilet together with Rachel Estacio, 20.
Senior Superintendent Abelardo Villacorta, Olongapo City police chief, said medico-legal findings have yet to be obtained but an initial check showed that each of the victims had a bullet wound in the head.
Bullet casings recovered from the crime scene showed that the suspects used 9 mm and .45 cal. guns, he said.
The arson angle cropped up because burning foam and sheets of paper were found next to the heads of Castor and Bandejas, Villacorta said.
A punctured canister of butane, a fuel for lighter, was also found on the floor of apartment unit 52-B, located on the second floor of a three-story building, he said.
The hair of Castor and Bandejas were burned, Villacorta said.
The fire started at that unit at 3:25 a.m. and spread to two more apartments on the third floor, it was learned.
Castor, Garcia, Bandejas and Estacio had rented the apartment for over a month. They were seen having a drinking spree and were heard singing in their apartment a few hours before the fire broke out.
"This is a case of multiple murders with arson," Villacorta told the Philippine Daily Inquirer when reached through his mobile phone from this regional police camp.
Investigators also gathered from a witness that at about 2 a.m., a man was seen transferring some items from a Toyota Vios to a blue car parked in front of the apartment occupied by the victims.
The Vios, reportedly owned by Castor, had been taken to the police’s crime laboratory services, also in Olongapo City.
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