Find other suspects, victims’ kin urge cops

Carmelino Ibañez

CAMP ALEJO SANTOS, BULACAN—Hair strands, fingernail clippings and other samples taken from five slain members of the family of Dexter Carlos would help determine if other suspects other than confessed killer, Carmelino Ibañez, were behind the murders, police said on Friday.

Carlos, a bank security guard, said he believed Ibañez did not act alone in killing his wife, three children and mother-in-law on June 27 at their home at North Ridge Royale subdivision in the city of San Jose del Monte.

In Baggao town in Cagayan province, Carlos’ mother, Teresita, said she also believed Ibañez could not have acted alone because of the number of stab wounds inflicted on her grandchildren.

But investigators are awaiting the results of a forensic examination of the crime scene and samples taken from the victims before they consider other suspects, said Senior Supt. Romeo Caramat Jr., Bulacan provincial police director.

During a news conference at Camp Olivas in Pampanga province on Thursday, Ibañez, a construction worker, mentioned his two accomplices but he could not keep his story straight, according to Chief Supt. Aaron Aquino, Central Luzon regional police director.
“Ibañez said he felt like he was not alone when he killed his victims but he claimed he could not remember. Later, he also said he acted alone,” Aquino said.

Ibañez had confessed to stabbing and killing Dexter Jr., 1, Ella, 7, and Donny, 11, as well as killing and raping their mother, Estrella, 35, and their grandmother, Aurora, 58.

Ibañez said he was drunk and took “shabu” with two friends hours before the killings. The two men were identified only as “Inggo” and “Tony.”

A witness told investigators that he saw Ibañez leave the Carlos house between 3:30 a.m. and 4 a.m. on Tuesday. —CARMELA REYES-ESTROPE AND VILLAMOR VISAYA JR.