No external injuries seen on 2 bodies found in car along TPLEx

MANILA, Philippines — No apparent external injuries were found on the two bodies found in a car parked at a rest stop along the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx), the Tarlac Provincial Police Office said on Thursday.

The two bodies had been discovered on Wednesday at a rest stop along the southbound segment of the TPLEx in Barangay San Francisco in Victoria town.

“Based on the initial forensic examination, no apparent external injuries were found on the deceased,” the Tarlac Provincial Police Office noted in a statement.

READ: 2 found dead in car along TPLEx identified by kin — Tarlac police

“The cadavers were subsequently brought to a funeral facility for proper disposition and processing,” it added.

Tarlac Provincial Police Office public information chief Cpt. Ruby Alcantara, in an interview on DZMM on Thursday night, identified the two individuals found dead only as a 20-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man.

Although the provincial police earlier said their family members had already positively identified them, Alcantara said investigators have yet to determine how the two were related to each other.

READ: Tarlac police probes 2 found dead in car along TPLEx

She only noted that both persons were found in the backseat of the car.

Citing the initial investigation, Alcantara noted that the two individuals had ordered coffee at the rest stop and parked where the vehicle would later be found.

“No other cars parked beside them for the duration they were parked there. They also have no one to meet up with,” she noted.

Shortly before 4 p.m. on Wednesday, a tipster at the rest stop supposedly knocked on the window and received no response, prompting them to call the police, according to the Tarlac police public information chief.

“The car was heavily tinted,” she detailed.

She did not identify the supposed tipster.

First responders then discovered the bodies inside the car and saw the vehicle’s air conditioner was running, but the engine was not, Alcantara explained.

She noted that investigators have yet to determine how long the two individuals had been dead inside the car and whether there were other individuals inside the car prior to the incident.

Earlier, the Tarlac Provincial Police Office said the two individuals’ families had requested that the case remain private.

It also urged the public to refrain from spreading unverified information on the incident. /cb