The family of Karen Kaye Montebon is surrounded by relatives and friends as they bid her farewell for the last time.
(CDN PHOTO/NORMAN MENDOZA)
ABOUT 2,000 people, including students of the University of San Carlos, brought Karen Kaye Montebon to her final resting place at the Mactan Memorial Garden in Lapu-Lapu City yesterday.
A convoy of nearly a hundred vehicles, including buses, made the trip from St. Peter’s Chapel inMandaue City to the burial site in Marigondon, Lapu-Lapu City.
The Lapu-Lapu City government tasked the police and the City Traffic Management Services (CTMS) to help clear the streets for the funeral procession, which included the family’s church friends, the Mactan Cathedral of Faith.
Ivy Tumulak, a church member, said Karen set a good example to the youth by being an active member in their congregation.
“She’s our youth leader and she truly had the quality of a true leader as she’s very approachable,” she said. Karen’s high school batchmates and friends also mourned with the family while her USC classmates called for justice, prayers and the immediate capture of her assailants.
Family members, who have requested for privacy, did not issue a statement. Karen was found dead by her father James inside her bedroom in the Corinthians Subdivision in the afternoon of Sept. 15. She had been strangled.
Police said the crime may have happened between 7 a.m. And 8 a.m., or shortly after Karen’s parents and elder sister left the house. Senior Supt. Armando Radoc, acting Lapu-Lapu City police chief, said his men were looking for three other persons of interest.
“We are doing our very best to look for evidences linking to these persons,” Radoc said yesterday.
The police earlier cleared a couple after witnesses said they were not the same couple on a motorcycle parked in front of the Montebon house on Tuesday morning.
Radoc said they have acquired a footage showing a similar motorcycle parked in another house in the same subdivision and another footage from a private property outside the subdivision.
“We’re having the footages enhanced so we can get a clearer view. The footages are a bit blurry,” he said.
A pair of slippers found at the crime scene has been submitted to the PNP Crime Laboratory. Radoc assured they were exploring all possible angles in Karen’s murder.
He also said they were verifying reports about a complaint from a former president of the Corinthian Subdivision homeowners that he was mauled by police for allegedly misleading the investigation into Karen’s death.