NBI ends probe amid calls for reinvestigation
Not everyone was satisfied when the murder case of Karen Kaye Montebon was declared “closed” after its principal suspect was shot dead in an islet in Bohol province.
The victim’s father as well as a leader of an anti-crime group in Cebu urged police to look deeper into the role of the live-in partner of slain suspect Ruben Fernandez.
James Montebon said he strongly suspected that Jenalyn Soon, 23, was involved or liable for the death of his 17-year-old daughter, Karen. The college freshman was found strangled in her bedroom on September 15 in Lapu-Lapu City. She was believed killed less than three hours after her parents and sister left the house at 6 a.m.
“Sa pagkakaron dili gyud ko motuo nga wa siya’y labut Wa gyud ta kahibawo kay misulod man gyod siya sa balay (For now I really can’t believe she’s not involved. We don’t actually know because she really went into the house),” said James, after police released Soon as a witness on Thursday.
It was Soon who told police investigators where to find Fernandez, an ex-inmate with a criminal record for theft and robbery. Soon had brought along her boyfriend when she visited Karen at her home in Corinthians Subdivision, Lapu-Lapu City in the morning of Sept. 15 to ask whether money from her sister in Hawaii was sent through the Montebon family.
Senior Supt. Armando Radoc, chief of the Lapu-Lapu City police, said the case was “closed”. He said no charges need to be charged because Fernandez was already dead and various evidence showed that he was the lone killer.
Police recovered the victim’s DSLR camera, a portable play station and small jewelry in various sites – the couple’s residence in San Vicente, Olango island, a pawnshop in Lapu-Lapu City and
Nasingin island in Bohol, where Fernandez holed up for a week in his sister’s house after the murder. Karen’s iPad remains missing.
REOPEN CASE
Thelma Chiong, president of the Crusade Against Violence – Visayas urged the police to reopen the murder investigation and to file charges against Soon.
She said she strongly suspects that Soon and her boyfriend conspired in carrying out the robbery and killing.
“Natural… a person who committed a crime would always tell a lie,” said Chiong.
Chiong said she could accompany the Montebon family to see Regional Police Direct Prudencio “Tom” Bañas and appeal for another investigation by a separate unit.
Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 said it has ended its own probe into the death of the 17-year-old college student.
“We respect the findings of the PNP,” said NBI Assistant Regional Director Augusto Isidoro yesterday.
“However, if the family of the victim will seek our help to satisfy some puzzling questions in their minds, we will help them.”
HANGING DETAIL
One hanging aspect in the case is the sudden death of Fernandez in Nasingin Island in Bohol.
He was shot in the head by still unidentified parties on Sept. 22, shortly before Lapu-Lapu city police arrived at about 5 p.m. on two motor bancas on a mission to arrest him.
Senior Supt. Radoc said that any aggrieved persons could visit his office.
“Ang panawagan nga kihaan, nindot lagi na mo-estorya ta pero unsa may atong basihanan (The call to file charges sounds good but what evidence would we use as basis?)?” he said.
Radoc said Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza was satisfied with the results of the police investigation and asked for a copy of the official report last Thursday.
It was Soon’s revelation to her sister in the United States that led to the identification of Fernandez as a main suspect. Soon said her “conscience” was bothering her. The sister, worried for her safety, called the Lapu-Lapu city police chief.
Soon was picked up for questioning, and the police traced the stolen belongings of the victim. Fernandez’s rubber slippers were found in the Montebon’s house. He had taken the father’s pair and worn them in Bohol including Karen’s wristwatch.
“At this point in time, we have no basis to file a case. That would be an exercise in futility and a waste of material time,” Radoc said.
Radoc said the Special Investigation Task Group Montebon considered all angles, including the possibility that the couple planned the crime, but there was no evidence to hold it up.
He ruled out the possibility that Karen was killed during the first visit of the couple to the Montebon residence at 7:03 a.m.
Radoc said that in the space of time between the first visit and the second one on 7:45 a.m., when Fernandez returned alone to the house, Karen was still alive based on text messages that she was able to send to someone.
The police chief said the time element and CCTV footage showing Fernandez riding his motorbike in and out of the subdivision were crucial in the police investigation.
Karen’s father said the suspect’s death didn’t satisfy the family’s need for justice.
“Kulang pa gyud. Naa pa’y usa nga nabilin nga kuyog sa pag-ari sa balay. Wa pa man ma-file ang kaso, basin og ma-filean ug kaso sir ug ma convicted. Pero bisan maunsa na sila, mapriso ba o maunsa, ang akong anak di man sab gyod mabalik (It’s not enough. There’s one more person who went to the house. A case hasn’t been filed yet but it could happen and a conviction is possible.
But no matter what happens to them, whether or not they go to jail, my child will never return to me),” he said in a dyLA interview.
James said he was assured by Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG-7) chief Supt. Marlon Tayaba that Soon would eventually be charged and that the police were just waiting for the results of the forensic examinations.
CIDG-7 is part of the Special Investigation Task Group Montebon.
The father said he could not easily forgive Soon, who asked for the parents’ forgiveness during an emotional encounter at the Lapu-Lapu police station.
“Dili gyud siguro, kay sakit man gud kaayo ang nahitabo sa akong anak kay pinangga man gud nako kaayo siya (I cannot forgive her just yet because the pain of losing my child is deep. I loved her so much),” he said.
He said the CCTV footage showing Fernandez returning by motorbike alone to the Montebon house did not prove that his girlfriend was not involved in the crime.
“Di man gyod ta makahibawlo kay sila ra man gud (didto sulod sa balay), way laing nakakita,” James said in a phone interview
James said he wondered why the principal suspect was shot dead in Nasingin Island and who did it.
“Okay ra man kay iya man gipatay akong anak, patyon sab siya pero ang mga tawo na didto may gusto,” he said.