2 arrested in murder of commercial model

Photo taken from qcpdpnp.com

MANILA, Philippines – Two suspects in the murder of part-time commercial model and ABS-CBN television talent  Julie Ann Rodelas were arrested in Pampanga on Saturday evening, Chief Superintendent Mario dela Vega of the Quezon City Police District.

Chief Inspector Rodelio Marcelo, head of the QCPD Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, said Rodelas’ friend Althea Altamirano and Fernando Quiambao Jr. were taken into custody following four days of surveillance of Quiambao’s home in Quezon City.

The two were spotted in a house in Apalit, Pampanga, and were taken into custody at around 6 p.m. Saturday.

Marcelo said the black Mitsubishi Montero with license plate TWO 505 which figured in Rodelas’ murder turned out to be registered to Quiambao’s mother. This was also recovered in Pampanga.

Upon his capture, Quiambao denied any involvement in Rodelas’ death, police said.

Police operatives from CIDU and the Cubao police station located the pair’s hideout in Pampanga by tailing a black Toyota Innova after it left Quiambao’s house in Quezon City.

A part-time model and hotel management student, Rodelas, 20, died on November 6 when she  was shot and pushed out of a Montero on 18th Avenue in Murphy, Cubao at 5 a.m.

Altamirano’s claim of an abduction supposedly happened at 12:30 a.m. near the World Trade Center on Diosdado Macapagal Avenue in Pasay City.

However, police recovered from Rodelas’ possession a McDonald’s receipt for a 2:33 a.m. takeout purchase of two cheeseburger meals.

Quiambao was positively identified by Altamirano’s relatives as the one who brought Altamirano home to Cavite City, using the Montero, a day after the killing.

Marcelo added that camera footage from the McDonald’s UN Avenue branch showed a man resembling Quiambao buying takeout meals at 2:33 a.m. of Nov. 6.

In two separate instances, an acquaintance of Rodelas and Altamirano identified the man in the McDonald’s video footage as Quiambao, Marcelo added.

The police official hinted that Rodelas may have personally known the suspects.

A statement from a Pasay City policeman who first responded to Rodelas’ reported abduction near the World Trade Center in Pasay City showed that Altamirano was seen weeping on the sidewalk and could say only the word “boyfriend” when questioned by police.

Altamirano’s capture came after her interview with a TV network in which she claimed that two men abducted her friend.