Female engineer shot, found dead in car in Laguna

LOS BAñOS, Laguna — A female engineer from Lipa City, Batangas, was found dead inside her vehicle abandoned on a public road leading to Mt. Makiling in this town, the police on Sunday said.

The victim, Imelda Natividad, 45, was reported missing by her family and colleagues since 5 p.m. on Friday. This was after Natividad, the vice president of a construction firm in Lipa City, failed to come to work that day.

“One of her colleagues (looking for her) texted her (Natividad). The reply, from the victim’s cellphone number, went something like, ‘We have your engineer,’” said Lipa City Supt. Carlos Barde.

Barde said they believed Natividad was abducted to be killed and not to be held for ransom.

A police report said that Natividad’s car, a silver Toyota Vios with plate number ZFE315, was spotted in Tiaong, Quezon, before it was abandoned here.

Superintendent Romy Desiderio, the Los Baños police chief, said in separate interview Sunday that a group of teens found Natividad’s car around 9:30 a.m. on Saturday along the PCAARRD (Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development) road in Barangay Timugan.

The car’s engine was left on and the victim’s body was found in the passenger seat. Natividad was hogtied and gagged with a handkerchief and sustained a gunshot wound in the head.

Desiderio said nothing valuable was taken from the victim as the police had recovered the victim’s two cellphones, personal belongings, and even groceries stacked in the car’s trunk indicating “that she had just come from the market before she was abducted.”

“It seems, based on our initial assessment, that the intent was to kill (the victim),” Desiderio said.

Barde said they were primarily considering a work-related angle, particularly the possible involvement of a recently fired employee at Natividad’s firm and a P20 million-worth property deal.

He said Natividad’s husband, an overseas worker, came home Saturday morning from Singapore. The victim’s body was brought back to Lipa City.