Police: All evidence point to son of milk tea shop owner

The pieces of circumstantial evidence gathered by investigators all point to the eldest son of the milk tea shop owner as the suspect in the death of his father and a customer, according to the Manila Police District (MPD).

MPD legal officer Dennis  Wagas told reporters on Monday that all the evidence pointed to 23-year-old Lloyd Abrigo.

Wagas cited the testimony of witnesses, the footage taken by  the shop’s closed-circuit television camera (CCTV) and the results of toxicology tests showing that the victims had ingested oxalic acid, a substance commonly used as a cleaning or bleaching agent.

“Lloyd tampered with the crime scene. When his father was in the hospital, he went to the shop to clean up,” Wagas said, adding that Abrigo’s actions the day before and hours after the incident showed that he “tried to hide something.”

The MPD filed on Friday in the Manila Prosecutor’s Office two counts of murder against Abrigo for the deaths of his father, William, and customer Suzaine Dagohoy.

The two died on April 9 after they ingested the Hokkaido-flavored milk tea prepared by William.

Dagohoy’s boyfriend, Arnold Aydallah, who took a sip of the drink, was hospitalized but survived. For this, Abrigo was also charged with frustrated murder.

Among the witnesses against Abrigo were shop helper Joseph Garnacio, trainee Rose Ann Limpahan and Wendell Maitland, who lived near the milk tea shop in Sampaloc, Manila, and said he saw Abrigo return to the shop shortly after his father was poisoned.

Wagas narrated that on the night of April 8, the CCTV footage showed Abrigo entering the shop wearing surgical gloves and holding a brown paper bag. He brought the bag to the far end of the shop, an area not covered by the CCTV camera.

In a text message to the Inquirer, Abrigo’s counsel, Benedicto Buenaventura, maintained that his client did not bring any chemical or harmful substances into the shop.

He said they were currently  “looking for evidence” which would show that “another person was behind the crime.”

According to Buenaventura, the bag brought by Abrigo into the shop on April 8 contained oolong tea leaves.

Wagas said that they have yet to establish a motive for the incident and how the oxalic acid ended up in the milk tea ingested by the victims.

The Philippine National Police, meanwhile, said that although it appeared that the victims had ingested oxalic acid, the cause of death could be determined only through an autopsy.

“The cause of death can be known after the results of the histopathological examination which is part of the autopsy,” said Chief Supt. Theresa Ann Cid, PNP Crime Laboratory director.

She added that the microscopic examination of the victims’ tissues would take a month to complete.

According to Cid, the victims ingested an amount over the lethal dose of oxalic acid which is 9.5 to 10 micrograms per liter.