‘Brains’ in Alegre killing known, says PNP

After nearly two months of investigating the ambush-killing of lawyer Amelie Ocañada-Alegre, police

said they have identified the “possible mastermind.”
Was it someone with family or professional relations with the victim?
Senior Supt. Mariano Natu-el Jr., chief of the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO), refused to say,

except that they were still trying to convince witnesses to come forward.
“We won’t comment further so as not to preempt our investigation,” he told reporters.
He said that based on police case conferences, they have ruled out the possibility that only one

person was behind the lawyer’s death.
The police has yet to look into the contents of the victim’s gadgets – an iPhone, iPad and a laptop –

which are all password-protected.
Lawyer Briccio Boholst, the victim’s colleague who was wounded in the leg during the August 13 ambush,

said he would try to remember the passwords because there is a file in the iPhone that is “due for

filing.”
Natu-el invited Boholst for the first time yesterday to a case conference at the MCPO headquarters to

shed light and provide more information on the case.
“We also informed him that we already have the identity of a possible mastermind behind Alegre’s

killing ,” Natu-el said.
Boholst, in an interview after the case conference, said he had no idea who the “possible mastermind”

is.
He said he didn’t believe the motive of the killing was work-related since the cases handled in the law

firm didn’t involve controversial figures.
“Di jud ko katubag, wa man god miy high profile cases god unlike before katong ako pa (I really cannot

answer because we don’t handle high profile cases unlike before),” he said.
“Litigation namo, gagmay man kana mang (We only have cases like) VAWC (violence against women and

children) , nullity of marriage, land dispute. Nothing controversial,” he added.
Boholst said the same theories on who ordered the ambush were still being discussed.
Alegre was bringing Boholst and their office accountant Antonio Pino home in her BMW sedan last Aug. 13

when they were ambushed in barangay Looc, Mandaue City.
Boholst, who was seated at the back, was wounded in his left leg while Pino, who was in the passenger

seat, was hit in the stomach.
Alegre was hit in her left jaw, left armpit and left chest. She died on the spot.
The BMW car, which the victim acquired through a car loan obtained by Boholst, has been turned over to

Boholst while the gadgets remain in the custody of the police.
The victim’s father-in-law, Engr. Ramon Alegre, earlier denied speculations that his son had something

to do with the killing.
Suggestions that a disgruntled staff at the Boholst Ocañada-Alegre Herrera-Klepp Remedio & Sanchez

Ceniza (BOHR &SC) law firm was involved also turned out to be negative.
Supt. Marlon Tayaba, acting regional director of the Crime Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG 7),

also attended the case conference.