Suicide eyed in student’s fatal fall from condo unit

A college student fell to his death from the 24th floor of a condominium building in Manila on Saturday in what the police suspect to be a case of suicide.

An open window, a curtain left on the floor and furniture moved from their usual places led authorities to suspect that 20-year-old Jethro Mark Pechon deliberately jumped from his rented unit at Grand Tower II Condominium in Malate, Manila.

The body of the first-year Electronics Communication Engineering student of the Technological Institute of the Philippines was found at 9 p.m. in the swimming pool on the seventh floor by building security officer Raymundo Allado.

“I heard a loud splash at the pool and when I went out to check [what it was], I saw the victim’s body floating on the water,” Allado told investigators.

He said he found out from which floor the victim came only when Princess Garcia, another tenant, showed up and positively identified him.

SPO1 Richard Escarlan of the Manila Police District homicide section said the victim fell into the portion of the pool which was just three-feet deep.

Scene of the Crime Operatives (Soco) who examined the victim’s body said both legs were fractured while there was a deep cut on the right eyebrow. They said these were due to the strong impact made by the fall.

Garcia told the police that Pechon was last seen alive around 5 p.m. by his roommate Dominic who left the condo unit to go to a school activity.

Although there was no suicide note left by the victim, Escarlan said they were looking at the angle that he killed himself since probers found the window in his room wide open.

He added that someone had taken down the curtain by the window by removing it from the curtain rod. It was then placed on the floor while a chair and a table were moved from their usual spots and placed beside the window.

Escarlan, however, said they were still conducting a follow-up investigation to verify if Pechon killed himself.

“The Soco team was able to get [fingerprints from] the steel panel of the … glass window. The prints will be compared to those of Pechon,” he added.

Investigation showed that the victim was renting the two-bedroom condo unit on the 24th floor with three other students.