Key suspect in Karen Kaye murder killed

Shabu user took Karen’s camera; dies in Bohol, says police

Karen Kaye

Robbery was the motive in the killing of 17-year-old Karen Kaye Montebon, who let a drug-user into her  house because he accompanied a close family friend whom she trusted.

Lapu-Lapu police said the suspect, 23-year-old Ruben “Gorio” Fernandez, took the student’s DSLR camera and pawned it for P5,000 to buy shabu, which he used in a pot session soon after the attack in Lapu-Lapu City.

The camera was recovered by police, along with earrings, a necklace, and other electronic gadgets of the college student.

READ: Suspect in the murder of Karen Kaye killed in Bohol

In a bizarre twist, Fernandez was gunned down yesterday afternoon in an islet of Getafe, Bohol province shortly before Lapu-Lapu policemen arrived in two pump boats with orders to arrest him.

Police said they heard gunshots fired before the boats reached the shore past 5 p.m. and that Getafe police who were alerted about their arrival met them.

“We don’t know who killed him. This is still being investigated,” said Senior Supt. Armando Radoc, Lapu-Lapu police chief in a press conference.

STRANGLED

The mystery of Karen Kaye’s death  set off  waves of indignation in the community  after the teenager was found strangled in her bedroom on Sept. 15 in the gated neighborhood of Corinthian Subidivison in Lapu-Lapu City.

She was last seen alive by her parents and sister at 6 a.m. when they left the house for work and school appointments. Her father found her bruised  body when he got home past 5 p.m.

Senior Supt.  Armando Radoc, Lapu-Lapu police chief, yesterday said the suspect’s live-in girlfriend was in police custody and was cooperating with the investigation.

He said Genalyn Soon, 25, a resident of barangay San Vicente in Olango Island, Lapu-Lapu, insisted that she had no hand in the violence and wasn’t aware that her boyfriend had harmed Karen Kaye.

She provided police with a photo of Fernandez.

Soon confirmed that she visited Karen Kaye  in the morning of Sept. 15. with Fernandez who was driving a motorbike.

They were let inside  the house because Soon was a close family friend.

Soon’s sister in Hawaii would usually send money home through Karen’s mother, Emelinda,  who was an active member in church, the Mactan Cathedral of Peace.

Soon reportedly dropped in to check if funds had arrived from abroad. But in Soon’s initial account to police, she left the subdivsion together with her boyfriend.

Soon said she was dropped off outside the private village  by Fernandez who told her the motorbike was running low on fuel and that he had to gas up.

Supt. Radoc said the breakthrough in the case  came with a call from Hawaii on Monday at 11 a.m.

The caller was  Rosalyn Hummel, Genalyn’s sister, who is married to an American in Hawaii.  She said her young sibling needed police assistance.

Through the sister, Radoc came to know  about Genalyn’s presence at the Montebon residence on the day of the crime.

“Nagkinataw-anay pa daw sila sa sulod sa balay,”said Supt. Radoc.  (They were even laughing with each other inside the house.)

Soon told police she was surprised when her boyfriend  no longer fetched her after dropping her off in sitio Mahayahay, barnagay Bangkal.  After waiting, she went to a friend in barangay Marigondon.

Unknown to her, she said, Fernandez  went back go Karen’s house for a final visit.

When her boyfriend  showed up about 1 p.m., he was bringing a bag with a camera and other gadgets inside.

Inside the bag were Karen’s stolen camera, iPad mini, a PSP or portable play station, and personal jewelry.

Police said they recovered Fernandez’s motorbike in Lapu-Lapu City and will be evaluating Genalyn as a witness in the case.

Radoc said he considers the murder case closed.  A full briefing is scheduled at 11 a.m. today.

Suspect in murder case ‘executed’ in Bohol

NASINGIN ISLET in Getafe, Bohol province was a hiding place for the main suspect in the murder of Karen Kaye Montebon.

Ruben Fernandez  had a sister there, according to police.

He was fatally shot in the head and chest by unidentified parties  past 5 p.m. yesterday just before Lapu-Lapu policemen arrived on two pump boats.

No gun was found in his possession.

“Dunay naka-witness.  Gipahapa kuno ni siya usa gipusil,” said Sr. Supt. Armando Radoc, chief of the Lapu-Lapu police, who sent his men there to arrest the suspect.
(There was a witness who saw Fernandez made to lie face down before he was shot.)

A source from the islet said Fernandez, who was hiding in the house of his sister, Maria Jovelin, sensed the arrival of the law enforcers, and was about to flee.

He and a companion were bringing fuel for a motorbanca and were heading to the shoreline when the shooting occurred.

“When our men arrived in Nasingin, our boats were about to dock when they heard gunfire.  They went to the site and found the body of the suspect,”said Radoc in Cebuano.

Getafe police led by Senior Insp. Marcelino Mejias met the Lapu-Lapu policemen at the shore.

Fernandez was identified through a photo and a body tattoo.  He was lying face down near a footbridge about 300 meters from the shore.

Radoc said he sent his men to Bohol immediately after his phone conversation with informant Rosalyn Hummel on Monday.  Big waves delayed their trip. Instead of a commercial trip, two motorized pump boats with seven policemen  each went to the island, on Radoc’s insistence.

Senior Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, who heads a task force assigned for Karen Kaye’s murder case, said he assigned investigators to find out who killed Fernandez.

The Getafe police initially said they don’t know who did it.

Fernandez had a prior police record, and was jailed two to three times before for theft cases, said Lawas. The suspect was released from jail in 2014.

His remains were brought to Lapu-Lapu city last night and will undergo an autopsy by the PNP Crime Laboratory.

Who’s the ‘right person’ for P500,000 reward?

LAPU-LAPU City Mayor Paz Radaza  last night said she  would let the city attorney coordinate with the police to ensure that a P500,000 reward promised in the Karen Kaye murder case would be given “to the right person.”

An informant’s reward may not be an easy matter to give in the circumstances.

After a false start in the investigation, police were directly led to the main suspect by the revelation of a U.S.-based sister of Jenalyn Soon, the 25-year-old girlfriend of slain suspect Ruben Fernandez.

When the sister called the Lapu-Lapu police chief on Monday, she was  concerned with keeping Jenalyn out of trouble and pointing authorities to the boyfriend, a shabu-user.

Local police were under pressure to solve the case,which became viral on social media even as Karen Kaye’s alma mater, the University of San Carlos, held candle light vigils on campus and solidarity Masses for the slain student.

Radaza, in a press statement, said “the death of the principal suspect… is a major breakthrough in the case.”

“I  thank the police for working very hard to give justice to the senseless killing of a very young Oponganon, Karen Kaye. I thank her classmates, schoolmates, the youth  and the Cebuanos in general for making their voices heard by using social media with #justice for karenkayemontebon to push the police to resolve the case quickly.

The vigilance of the traditional media has also seen to it that the pursuit of the killer didn’t waver.  When we unite as a people for a common good it always brings a positive result.  I await a detailed report from the police to ascertain that the case is closed.”