Charges filed vs caretaker, student in Marikina university VP’s slay

Murder and theft charges have been filed against a male student and the caretaker of Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Marikina (PLMar) vice president Dr. Alfredo Dimaano who was killed inside his house on March 15.

The case against Glen Palasan and the 17-year-old PLMar student was filed on Wednesday by the victim’s mother, Nerie, in the city prosecutor’s office, according to Eastern Police District director, Chief Supt. Romulo Sapitula.

Chief Insp. Eduardo Cayetano, head of the Marikina police investigation unit, said that although they were still waiting for the footage taken by a closed-circuit television camera to be enhanced, they had gathered enough evidence against the suspects.

Tampered crime scene

These included Palasan’s fingerprints at the crime scene which had been rearranged, the police claimed, on top of inconsistencies in his statement to investigators and a failed lie detector test.

Dimaano’s cell phone, on the other hand, was tracked down to the area where the student lived. It was one of the valuables taken from the PLMar official’s house.

It was Palasan who found the body of the 36-year-old Dimaano around 7 p.m. on March 15. The victim had been stabbed several times inside his room at his house in Marikit Subdivision, Barangay Concepcion Uno, Marikina City.

Sapitula said more than two suspects could have connived to kill Dimaano who, according to his death certificate, died of asphyxia due to manual strangulation.

Pointing out that the victim’s body also bore seven stab wounds, Sapitula added:
“It may be that one strangled him while the other stabbed him,”

Palasan, in his earlier statements and interviews, said that Dimaano had received around 11 p.m. a male visitor who immediately went to the second floor. He first claimed that he did not know the caller although he later retracted this.

Sapitula said Palasan’s fingerprints also matched those recovered from the crime scene, including those found on Dimaano’s broken glass.

The police also claimed that the scene of the crime had been tampered with. “Pillows were arranged; Dimaano, whose stab wounds were on the neck, surprisingly had blood on his [buttocks] even [though] there were no stab wounds there,” Sapitula added.

Failed lie detector test

Palasan also failed the polygraph examination test, according to investigators.

Among other things, he claimed that he did not hear Dimaano’s screams although neighbors said they heard a person screaming, Sapitula said.

The police also verified from the Surigao del Norte police that Palasan, who lived in the province before he moved to Marikina City to work for the victim, was on their drug watch list.

Investigators, meanwhile, managed to track down Dimaano’s stolen cell phone to a subdivision where the student was residing, Cayetano said. Aside from the cell phone, also reported missing were a laptop and another phone.
Aside from being the university’s vice president for academic affairs, the victim was also a psychology professor.