PNP forms team to probe into missing beauty tilt bet, fiancé

HAVE YOU SEEN THEM? Relatives of Geneva Lopez, a Mutya ng Pilipinas Pampanga 2024 candidate, and her boyfriend, Yitchak Cohen, have continued to appeal for public help in finding them. They were last seen in Tarlac province on Friday after inspecting agricultural land they intended to buy. (File photo PRESY CARREON LOPEZ’s Facebook account)

MANILA, Philippines — A special investigation task group (SITG) was created to solve the case of Pampanga missing beauty pageant candidate and her Israeli fiancé, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Tuesday.

In a press briefing, PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said the formation of the task group Genesaac followed an order released by PNP Chief Gen. Rommel Marbil.

READ: PNP: Persons of interest eyed in beauty pageant bet’s disappearance

“Kung matatandaan po, nauna na tayong gumawa ng committee on missing persons para mas lalong matutukan itong kaso na ito,” Fajardo said.

(If you remember, we previously created a committee on missing persons to focus more on this case.)

“Nag-utos na ang chief PNP na mag-create ng SITG, kasama ang CIDG na syang nangunguna sa investigation,” she added.

(The chief PNP has been ordered to create a SITG and the CIDG, which is leading the investigation.)

Aside from the CIDG, the SITG will consist of personnel from the Anti-Cybercrime Group, Highway Patrol Group, and Forensic Group.

These developments come after the PNP identified several persons of interest possibly linked to the alleged disappearance of Mutya ng Pilipinas Pampanga 2024 candidate Geneva Lopez and Yitchak Cohen.

Authorities also found another vehicle possibly linked to the case along Barangay Tibag, Tarlac City.

Police said the two met a “middleman” in Tarlac to check the 20.5-hectare agricultural land they intended to buy.

They were last seen around 2 p.m. on June 21, while their gray Nissan Terra sports utility vehicle (SUV) was found burning along the Capas-San Jose Road in Cristo Rey village at 2:36 a.m. on June 22.

Further investigation showed that the middleman was a former policeman previously assigned to the Angeles City Police Station and was dismissed from service.

Before these actions, authorities had examined what seemed like a burned “cellphone or tablet” found inside the SUV.

However, Capas police chief Lt. Col. Librado Maranang Jr. said: “The mobile gadget, a cell phone, was brought to the regional anti-cybercrime office in Camp Olivas (in San Fernando, Pampanga) for forensic investigation. But data could no longer be retrieved from the gadget because it was completely burned.”