Police: Man arrested in Davao not ‘prime suspect’ in teen’s slay 

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DAVAO CITY, Philippines — The man arrested by the police in Matina, Davao City, last Friday, is not the “prime suspect” in the gruesome killing of Cebu teen Christine Silawan in Lapu-Lapu City, a police spokesperson said.

Superintendent Ma. Aurora Rayos, spokesperson of Police Regional Office 7, said Jonas Bueno was not the prime suspect in the Silawan case. 

“He is not the prime suspect in the killing of Christine Silawan as far as our investigation is concerned,” Rayos told the Inquirer by phone Friday evening.

Authorities here  arrested the 24-year old Bueno in Guadalupe, Barangay Matina Crossing, here for the murder of a 60-year old woman in Carmen town also in Cebu earlier this year, based on the arrest warrant issued by  Judge Jerry B Dicdican of the Danao City Cebu Regional Trial Court Branch 25.

“Bueno is a suspect in the Carmen case, if my memory serves me right. But I reiterate, he is not the prime suspect in Silawan case,” Rayos said.

Rayos said authorities in Cebu investigating the Silawan case already had a lead to the identity of the suspect. 

“The investigation is ongoing but we opt not to release details so that it would not pre-empt or hamper the investigation,. We have a lead already but we have yet to identify the suspect” Rayos said.

“Bueno is still a person of interest but he is not definitely the prime suspect in Silawan case,” she added. /cbb