Man suspected to be outside house of slain Cebu lass cleared

CEBU CITY—Police on Friday cleared the man suspected to be outside of the house of Karen Kaye Montebon shortly before she was killed on Tuesday.

Senior Supt. Armando Radoc, Lapu-Lapu police director, said the man showed up at the police station about 1 p.m. on Friday to clear his name.

Radoc declined to identify the man except to say he is from Consolacion town in northern Cebu.

Upon interrogation, Radoc said the man stressed that he had nothing to do with the killing of the 17-year-old girl who was found dead by her father inside her room in their house in Corinthians Subdivision, Barangay Basak in Lapu-Lapu late Tuesday afternoon.

He told the police that he was not the one who drove the woman to the house of Montebon around 7 a.m. on Tuesday before the girl was killed.

According to Radoc, the man claimed that while the woman who was seen knocking on the front door of the house used to be his live-in partner, they had broken up since Sept. 1.

Radoc said the police received information that the woman had left her house in Barangay Looc, Lapu-Lapu City after the killing and had fled to Bohol. The police sent a team to Bohol to pick up the woman, he added.

A man and a woman were seen by neighbors in front of the house of Montebon about 7 a.m., which the police suspect was about the time the crime was committed.

“The man made it clear that he had nothing to do with the crime,” said Radoc.

He said they checked the background of the man and didn’t find any derogatory record.

Radoc said the police had a third suspect but he would not divulge any details.

“It’s premature to give details right now. We are still consolidating the evidences against the third suspect,” he added.
Radoc said the special investigation task team has been updated into Task Force Karen to be headed by Police Regional Office in Central Visayas.

The task force will be composed of representatives from the  Lapu-Lapu City Police Office,  Cebu City Police Office, Mandaue City Police Office, Cebu Provincial Police Office, and other special units including the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Visayas.