Footage shows gunmen tail lawyer’s car from office

Police investigators will check closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage from establishments located on the route that slain lawyer Amelie Ocañada-Alegre took before she was ambushed Thursday night inbarangay Looc, Mandaue City.

Supt. Michael Anthony Bastes, chief of the Investigation and Detection Management Branch (IDMB) of the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO), said they already got a copy of the footage from the CCTV cameras mounted on the traffic lights at corner C. Ouano and Plaridel streets and on A. Soriano St. near the Mandaue City Sports Complex.

Bastes said if they can get another footage that captured the victim’s car and the motorcycle of the assailant, it will be a big help in solving the case.

Based on their initial investigation, the assailants were already tailing Amelie’s car when she left the law office Boholst Ocañada Herrera Remedio (BOHR) & SC Law Office in barangay Tipolo, Mandaue City with her associate, lawyer Briccio Boholst, and their law firm’s accountant Antonio Pino.

The first footage showed Amelie’s gray BMW sedan pass the Mandaue City Hall of Justice and turn left to W.O. Seno, the road between the Justice building and the Cebu International Convention Center, then to Ouano Avenue and straight to A. Soriano Avenue.

The gunmen were seen emerging from a small road beside the river and were looking at Amelie’s vehicle when they got near it.

In the second footage, when the car entered C. Ouano St. and stopped for the red light, the gunmen slowly moved to get near the car.

Amelie’s cellphone, iPad and laptop were turned over to forensic experts for examination in the hope of  retrieving data that might help in the investigation.

In an earlier interview, Boholst said he strongly believed that Amelie’s estranged husband Ryan was behind the attack.