THE VICTIM, Karen Kaye Montebon, a 17-year-old student, wanted to become an accountant. PHOTO TAKEN FROM FACEBOOK PAGE #JusticeForKarenKayeMontebon
CEBU CITY—The police cleared the man whom neighbors saw at the front door 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 at about 1 p.m. on Friday to clear his name.
Radoc declined to identify the man except that he was from Consolacion town in northern Cebu.
READ: Murder of 17-year-old student at home in Lapu-Lapu City sparks online calls for justice
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 (village) 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 at about 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.
He said that a man and a woman were seen by neighbors in front of the house of Montebon at 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 did not find any derogatory record.
READ: Cops hunt down suspect in killing of Cebu student
Radoc said the police had a third suspect but refused to divulge any details.
“It’s premature to give details right now. We are still consolidating the [evidence] 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. Jhunnex Napallacan/RAM