Jennifer Laude ignored haters, fought for dolls, kept poise

By: Jaymee T. Gamil - 10 years ago

MANILA, Philippines—Where’s the money?

Michelle Laude, Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude’s elder sister, said a housemate recalled that Jennifer went out on the night she was killed carrying around P20,000 to P25,000 in cash. “When the housemate asked why, Jen said: ‘Para ’pag may bumastos sa akin, hahampasin ko ng pera (So if somebody disrespects me, I would throw money at their face).’”

“She never wanted anyone to think she was just out looking for money. She had her own,” Michelle said.

The money has not been recovered, leading Michelle to conclude that Jennifer was also robbed.

If the murder victim, Jennifer, were alive today, how would she have responded to negative comments especially from netizens?

Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude. INQUIRER CENTRAL LUZON

Michelle recalled what Jennifer used to tell her gay and transgender friends whenever they were heckled by bystanders in Olongapo City: “Don’t stoop down to their level.”

But Jennifer’s effeminate ways were widely accepted in their community, where she answered to the call “Ganda (Beautiful).”

In a dinner with the Inquirer in Quezon City on Wednesday, Jennifer’s loved ones—her mother Julita, her elder sisters Michelle and Marilou, and her German fiance Marc Sueselbeck—fondly recalled how she earned the moniker.

Even at the age of 5, Jennifer, the youngest of three siblings, already identified herself as a girl and often competed for dolls with Michelle, who was a year older.

Originally from Tacloban

Marilou, her eldest sister, recalled that Jennifer started cross-dressing when she turned 18, when the family moved to Olongapo City, Zambales province, where Julita’s siblings resided. The Laudes originally hailed from Tacloban City, Leyte province, their deceased father’s hometown.

Jennifer studied hotel and restaurant services at AIE College in Olongapo City, where, interestingly, she was allowed to wear the uniform of female students. On the side, she worked in a beauty parlor.

The obsession with feminine beauty was the driving force of Jennifer’s life. Her family gave lively anecdotes on how she would flaunt her sexiness with form-fitting clothes and cleavage-baring tops, conscientiously watch what she eats, or spend hours researching online about beauty treatments and then trying them out.

Jennifer never stepped out of the house without being fully made up, a process that could take hours. “She would start getting ready at 1 p.m. At 5 p.m., you would still be waiting for her,” Michelle said in Filipino.

To go with her physique, Jennifer insisted on being poised. That included the gracious way in which she dealt with those around her.

“She didn’t get disrespected because she was ladylike (mahinhin),” Michelle said, adding that Jennifer reserved her boisterous side for her loved ones behind closed doors.

“She was really very kind and generous. Whenever she visited my house, she always had gifts for my kids,” Marilou said.

Julita recalled that the last time she spoke with her on the phone, Jennifer was asking about an uncle’s coming birthday. Jennifer had offered to bring food, ending the call with, “Always remember that I love you.”

Online dating

“They were all such good children. I thanked God for how lucky I was,” Julita said.

Sueselbeck, who was introduced to Jennifer in an online dating site in 2012, said he was drawn to her even before she saw her photograph.

The German national, who works in an accounting firm, recalled that within five minutes of their first conversation, Jennifer already told him she was a transgender.

“It didn’t matter to me. She was an interesting and open-minded person. When I was talking to her, it appeared to me she was educated. She spoke English well,” Sueselbeck said.

“From the first to the last day, she was just herself. She would not pretend. She was sincere. If she said something, you could rely on that. She was a worthy person because of that,” he said.

After their first chat, which lasted six to seven hours, they went on video chat almost daily for five hours. As the relationship grew deeper, Jennifer decided to quit school and work as Sueselbeck started sending her a monthly allowance.

By December that year, Sueselbeck found himself flying to the Philippines to spend the holidays with Jennifer. He proposed to her shortly before Christmas at the jewelry section of a busy mall.

“After that, she told me, ‘Next time you do that, tell me so I can dress up,’” Sueselbeck said, laughing.

He said they had planned to wed in Europe, where gay marriage is legal, but Jennifer’s visa application was repeatedly denied until this year.

Jennifer was set to fly to Germany this December, so she and Sueselbeck can get married in March next year.

But the plan could no longer push through, as with Jennifer’s dream to be a flight attendant, or to go back to school this year.

On Oct. 11, Jennifer was found dead, strangled and drowned in a toilet bowl in a motel in Olongapo City. She was last seen alive checking in with a Caucasian man she and her friend met at a bar, later identified as US Marine Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton.

Pemberton is facing charges for Jennifer’s murder.

Negative comments

The circumstances behind Jennifer’s death have drawn criticisms online, with netizens blaming her for lying about her gender, cheating on her fiance and working as a prostitute.

Police investigators, on the other hand, were looking at robbery as a motive for the killing.

Sueselbeck dismissed the negative comments, saying that all the arguments are immaterial.

“We are talking about a murder case. Whatever Jen was intending that night … nothing would justify what has happened,” Sueselbeck said.

‘More like rape’

“You want to discuss morals? It should be me or the family discussing that. I don’t feel betrayed. I have a deeper knowledge [of who Jennifer was],” Sueselbeck said.

Sueselbeck called Jennifer’s critics “discriminating” for assuming that she was a prostitute just because she was transgender. “If people didn’t have the impression that she was a hooker, then they would think what happened actually seemed more like rape,” he said.

Not a nightlife person

“From everything I’ve heard, and from what I know, she wasn’t a nightlife person. The fact that we chatted, that showed she was always at home at night. She went out maybe once a week,” Sueselbeck said.

He said Jennifer informed him she will be going out that night to visit a friend. Hours before, she had even sent a video of her playing with her two dogs.

Michelle also said she was “surprised” when she saw Jennifer at the bar that night. “She doesn’t usually go out. If she did, she would get in a fight with Marc. She doesn’t drink much, either,” she said.

The Inquirer talked with the Laudes hours after they gathered outside a restricted facility inside the Army headquarters at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, where Pemberton is currently detained in an air-conditioned freight container.

Marilou said they just wanted to make sure Pemberton was really detained in the military headquarters. “Nobody was answering us. Nobody was listening to us. They were just turning their backs on us,” she said.

The frustration and anger drove Marilou and Sueselbeck to climb a perimeter fence at Camp Aguinaldo on Wednesday afternoon to confront the soldiers guarding the facility.

Even Julita found herself shouting outside: “Why did you kill my child?”

“I’m shocked at the missing respect and honor, not only for [Jennifer] but also for her family,” Sueselbeck said.

“The government should simply do what the government is for. That means, primarily, taking care of your own people. I would expect they would raise their own worth. I would expect the community would get together on this,” Sueselbeck said.

But the questions of the Laude family remain unanswered, even as she was laid to rest on Friday.