Manila police investigators have identified the foreign-looking woman, who was run over by a car and then repeatedly stabbed to death by the vehicle’s driver while jogging near the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) complex along Roxas Boulevard shortly before dawn last week.
Manila Police District (MPD) homicide section investigators have also begun tracking down the suspect, believed to be the victim’s ex-lover, whom they were able to identify through pictures on her mobile phone which matched still images of him taken from a security camera footage of the January 14 murder.
Homicide section chief Senior Insp. Joselito De Ocampo identified the victim as 24-year-old Chinese tourist Zhao Chun Lan, of Gansu Province in the People’s Republic of China.
“With the help of the Chinese Embassy officials, we were able to get in touch through her mobile phone with a man who identified the victim and gave us her background,” De Ocampo told the Inquirer.
Homicide section investigators requested Chinese consul Wang Xiao Bo to call several cell phone numbers obtained from the memory card of the victim’s mobile phone.
“But the man who gave the consul details on the victim refused to disclose his identity,” De Ocampo pointed out.
A check with the immigration bureau revealed that Zhao arrived as a tourist five days before the incident. “She was constantly in and out of the country based on the bureau records,” De Ocampo said.
The informant also gave them the suspect’s name which matched entries on Zhao’s phone. The suspect was identified as 27-year-old tourist Gong Shu Yang, of Fujian Shishi City in the People’s Republic of China.
De Ocampo told the Inquirer that Zhao had apparently left China after she was allegedly duped of some P1.3 million by the suspect which caused their breakup.
“He (the suspect) followed her here,” De Ocampo stressed.
He disclosed that they are looking into two possible motives for the killing: A quarrel between the two, where the suspect could have been driven to kill her after his desire for a reconciliation with Zhao was rejected; or money, which the suspect allegedly took from the victim.
In the closed circuit television (CCTV) camera footage taken of the crime, the two were seen arguing in front of a black Nissan Cefiro (XAY-741) when Gong walked back to his car and sat on the driver’s seat.
Zhao was seen taunting the driver to run her over, her hands gesturing for the car. But Gong started to drive in reverse, prompting Zhao to walk away apparently thinking that the driver had chickened out of her dare.
However, the car stopped several seconds later and suddenly surged forward, accelerating and running over Zhao who had turned back too late.
While Zhao lay bleeding on the ground beneath the front portion of the car, the driver was seen getting off his seat and taking something from the vehicle.
After a few seconds, Gong approached the wounded Zhao and started striking her chest with an object before getting back inside the car, running over the victim again, and then speeding away. The object, it turned out, was a kitchen knife.
Zhao was declared dead on arrival at the Ospital ng Maynila from three stab wounds in the chest and massive head wounds she sustained from being run over by the car.