A photo of Reah Mae Tocmo taken from her Facebook page. Tocmo was found dead, stuffed inside a box, and left at the side of the road in Barangay Tisa, Cebu City on Monday, July 17, 2023.
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Police here have urged individuals with information that may shed light on the brutal killing of Reah Mae Tocmo to report them immediately to authorities and not on social media.
The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) made this pronouncement after people claiming to have possible details on Tocmo’s death surfaced online.
“Unta ihangyo namo sa social media or sa kang kinsa ninyo na ihatag mas maayo pa ideretso nato na sa kapulisan kasi pareho raman ta og tumong ug tuyo nga masuta gyud nato unsa katinud-a ning kasuha,” Police Lt. Col. Janette Rafter, Deputy City Director or Operations of CCPO, said.
Recently, one of Tocmo’s friends, a certain Jewel Smith, came forward to the CCPO to clear her name after claims from a taxi driver seemed to have indirectly implicated her in the case.
Smith, however, vehemently denied that she had any knowledge of her friend’s death. She also denied that the woman the taxi driver transported from B. Rodriguez to Brgy. Labangon on July 17 was her.
Rafter said they did not consider Smith as a ‘person of interest’ in Tocmo’s killing.
Tocmo was found dead inside a box in Sitio Mohon, Brgy. Tisa, the neighboring village of Brgy. Labangon, on July 17.
According to Rafter, the taxi driver’s claims, who made the statements during an interview with a local radio station last August 5, had been examined by officers at the Labangon Police Station (Police Station 10) which is handling Tocmo’s case.
But investigators found ‘loopholes’ in the taxi driver’s claims.
They also did not match the statements they gathered from witnesses who first spotted the box containing Tocmo’s corpse, Rafter said.
The taxi driver reported that the woman who boarded his taxi to Brgy. Labangon had tattoos on different parts of her body. She was also carrying a plain, empty box, the driver added.
Findings from investigators showed that the box where the perpetrators placed Tocmo’s lifeless body had multiple markings on it.
“Medyo may discrepancies sa giingong sa taxi driver nga plain lang iyang nakita,” explained Rafter.
However, the CCPO official clarified they did not completely dismiss the taxi driver’s claims. The driver’s statements also did not interrupt any ongoing investigations, she added. /rcg
RELATED STORIES
Reah Mae Tocmo’s friend, Jewel Smith, denies knowledge on killing
Reah Mae Tocmo update: Murder victim seen arguing with man a day before she was found dead
Another victim of Pamplona massacre dies; death toll climbs to 10