Ex-British cop, live-in partner found dead in Angeles City

ANGELES CITY—A retired British policeman and his Filipina live-in partner were killed inside their house in Barangay Amsic here on Friday, police said.

Chief Insp. Luisito Tan, commander of the Police Station 4 here, said David Balmer, 54, and Elma de Guia, 26, were found dead in their house in Josefaville 2 Subdivision. They had bullet wounds in the head and different parts of the body.

Police found 14 empty cartridges and a slug for a 9-mm pistol inside the couple’s bedroom.

Richard Agnew, 51, house mate of the suspects, told investigators that he last saw Balmer alive after the ex-British policeman left Agnew’s bar along the red light district of Fields Avenue in Barangay Balibago at around midnight of Friday.

Agnew said he went home at 6 a.m. and noticed that the front door of the couple’s house was forcibly opened.

“But I did not pay much attention [to it] for I thought that David had lost his key and [did] that to open the door. I went straight to my room and slept,” he said.

When he woke up before Friday noon, Agnew said he did not bother to wake Balmer and De Guia up, presuming the two were tired. He went to his office, returned home at 5 p.m. and watched television for an hour.

He said it was then that he wondered why Balmer and De Guia were still not getting out of their room. “I then went to their room and saw them still lying on their bed and asked them if there is a problem but [I got] no response from them,” he said.

“So I turned on the light and tried to wake them up and discovered that they were shot and killed and lots of empty cartridges were scattered in their room,” said Agnew, long-time president of the Association of Bar Owners of Angeles City and owner of Blue Nile Bar.

Marcial Hellacone, 59, a security guard in the subdivision, said he saw a white Toyota Innova in the area at around 3:30 a.m. on Friday. He said he saw a male Caucasian wearing a black cap and a Filipino driver inside the vehicle.

Hellacone said he saw the same vehicle parked outside Balmer’s and Agnew’s house at 3:40 a.m. on Sept. 1. He said he tried to approach the vehicle but its driver started the engine and sped off before he got closer.

Tan said the neighbors of the victims did not hear gunshots because of heavy rains.

Senior Supt. Rodolfo Recomono Jr., city police chief, said they are looking at business rivalry as a possible motive in the murder. He said none of the victims’ belongings was missing.  Jun Malig, Inquirer Central Luzon