A 26-year-old woman who worked as a marketing officer for a hostel on the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City, was held up, raped and killed by two men in front of another robbery victim.
The robbery, rape and killing of Jee Anne de Guzman took place in Camarin, Caloocan City, at around 8 p.m. on Tuesday, according to case investigator SPO1 Noli Albis.
It was witnessed by Jerry Mañoto who said that he was held up by the two men just minutes before they attacked De Guzman.
De Guzman, a resident of Caloocan City, was identified by the police through the identification cards found in her bag. Her cell phone and other valuables, however, were taken by her attackers.
Mañoto told the police that he was on his way home on Tuesday night when two men armed with guns approached him and dragged him to a dimly-lit grassy area.
They wrapped an ID strap around his mouth to prevent him from making any sound before they stripped him of his clothes and then tied him up.
He added that the robbers left him after they took his valuables.
However, after a few minutes, the two men returned to the grassy area, this time, with De Guzman, Mañoto said.
He told the police that he saw the robbers tie the strap of the victim’s bag around her mouth before they tied up her hands and took her valuables.
They then took turns raping her before they strangled her to shut her up, Mañoto said.
According to him, the robbers fled when a man who heard the victim’s muffled cries for help as she was being raped went to the area and started calling out to whoever was making the noise.
Mañoto later positively identified one of the De Guzman’s attackers as 18-year-old Erik Macaraan when the police showed him file photos of people with criminal records.
In a follow-up operation, the police said another witness identified Macaraan’s companion as a certain “Dandan,” a street-sweeper.
Dandan, however, eluded arrest when the police went to his house in Phase 6, Camarin, on Wednesday afternoon.