Marinduque campers’ murder, rape: Police looking at five ‘persons of interest’

MANILA, Philippines — The Boac Police disclosed Tuesday that they have five “persons of interest” in the killing of a 21-year-old man and the rape of his 17-year-old girlfriend in Marinduque.

Boac police chief Police Major Jerome Mendiola said they have so far sent the photo and voice recording of one person of interest to the rape victim, identified as alias “Lyn,” but she did not identify him as the suspect.

“As of now, wala pa po kaming nahuhuling suspect pero meron na po kaming ilang persons of interest,” he told INQUIRER.net over the phone. “Bale lima [sila]. Iyong isa, nakuhanan namin ng voice recording at pictures kahapon. Iyong apat, lalakarin namin ngayon for voice recording at i-send namin sa victim.”

(We haven’t arrested any suspect as of now, but we do have five persons of interest. We have already obtained pictures and a voice recording from one of them. We’ll do the same for the remaining four and send it to the victim.)

Marinduque map

Mendiola also noted that upon the request of Senator Raffy Tulfo, they have added another police officer to guard Lyn who has since been transferred to a hospital in Lucena.

“Dalawa na po kasi kahapon, isa lamang po. Nakausap namin si Senator Tulfo kahapon, nagpadagdag po ng isa. Nag-request sila,” he said.

(There are two officers on guard now. Yesterday, there was only one but we spoke to Senator Tulfo and he requested for us to add another one.)

On Monday, Tulfo offered a P1 million reward to anyone who could provide information leading to the arrest of the still-unidentified suspect.

In a video posted on the “Raffy Tulfo in Action” YouTube page, Lyn recounted her experience last Friday, July 15, when the suspect barged into their tent while she and her boyfriend were on a camping trip.

According to Lyn, the suspect stabbed her boyfriend to death, raped her, and then later stabbed her in the neck.

Police Chief Master Sergeant Librada Libelo of the Marinduque Police Station said the investigation is still ongoing but noted that they also considered Lyn’s former suitor as a possible person of interest.

READ: Teen camper who was raped in Marinduque recounts assault

“Noong initial na investigation namin noong kangyayari pa lamang noong krimen, base sa kaniyang salaysay, wala naman po siyang nasasabi. Pero noong previous na pag-interview namin sa kanya na medyo okay na siya, may sinasabi po siyang dating nanligaw sa kaniya,” Libelo noted.

(The victim didn’t mention this during our initial investigation – when the crime had just happened – but in our recent interviews when she was in a better state, she said something about a former suitor.)

But Lyn clarified that she mentioned an ex-boyfriend and not a former suitor. She also said it was not him who committed the crime since she was not familiar with the suspect at all.

“Ex po [pero] hindi naman po. Wala po talaga akong kilalang ganoon dahil naaninag ko po iyong mukha,” Lyn explained.

(I said ex-boyfriend, but it wasn’t him either. I don’t know the suspect since as I mentioned, I saw his face.)

KGA