Mystery surrounds killing of 2 persons set on fire inside an SUV in Danao

A group of teenagers armed with flashlights set out late into the night to hunt for wild spiders in a remote area in barangay Sabang in Danao City.

As they sifted through tall blades of cogon grass, they heard an explosion and saw flames shoot up to the sky.

The teens had no idea that they just witnessed the tail-end of a gruesome crime that has kept homicide investigators of the local police on their toes.

Police in Danao City admitted that they need the help of forensic experts to make sense of the pieces of evidence left behind in the case of the killing of two people who were strapped inside a sports utility vehicle that was set on fire late Monday night.

“We still could not determine the identity of the victims and the type of SUV that was totally destroyed,” PO3 Marlon Remollo of the Danao City Police Office.

He said the SUV was still on fire when police arrived on the scene after getting a call from one of the teenagers. Firefighters were called in to put out the flames.

A security guard watching over a communications tower near the spot where the SUV was found confirmed that an explosion preceded the fire, police told Cebu Daily News.

The security guard and the teenagers, whose identity are withheld for security reasons, said they saw no one within the vicinity of the crime scene which is about 2.5 kilometers away from the national highway and is on a path leading to a golf course.

Police said the bodies of the victims were at the backseat of the SUV and were covered with tires and cable wires. The remains were burnt to crisp and were taken to Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes for autopsy.

The car was taken to a vacant lot in front of the Bureau of Fire Protection office in Danao City.

Senior Insp. Joseph Berondo said they are not discounting the possibility that the victims were killed elsewhere and were taken to Danao City to mislead investigators. The perpetrators likewise took out the car’s registration number plate.

“We will ask the crime lab and the LTO (Land Transportation Office) to do a macro etching of the SUV’s chassis and engine numbers to trace its owner,” Berondo said.