At least three male employees of businessman Wayne Uy were reportedly in the car where his wife Agnelen was last seen before she was discovered dead on Thursday morning.
Two of the employees told Cebu city police they saw the estranged husband tie Agnelen’s legs together with duct tape because she was angry and kicking.
But they said they didn’t witness any shooting as they were made to disembark so the couple could talk privately about a pending marriage annulment.
Police find a gallon of gasoline, a .45 pistol bullet, attache case and a cellphone in the Kia Picanto sedan where the body of Agnelen E. Uy was found in barangay Mabolo. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
The sworn accounts of a certain JayR and another male employee were taken on Thursday, several hours after Agnelen Uy’s lifeless body was found past 5 a.m. in the green Kia Picanto sedan parked in a dark street of barangay Mabolo.
Chief Insp. David Señor, head of the Crime Scene Investigation, said the two employees executed an affidavit about what they saw before the police released them to two lawyers after the inquiry at the homicide police office in Camp Sotero Cabahug.
“Usab-usab man gud to sila’g statement. Ang ingon ni JayR kay iya jud nga nakit-an ang katong bana nga gihigot ang tiil. Human ato kay gipanaog na sila sa sakyanan kay magstorya daw silang duha bahin sa ilang annulment (They kept changing their statements. But JayR said he saw the husband tie the legs of his wife. After that the employees were told to disembark from the vehicle to allow the couple to talk privately about their annulment),” said Señor.
Señor said police had no grounds to hold the two employees in custody.
“They didn’t witness the shooting or the crime itself,” he told Cebu Daily News.
Agnelen was shot in the back of the head. Her corpse was found with legs tied in the car, with her head positioned face down in the back seat and her lower body in between the two front seats.
Her husband Wayne told police and the media that his wife was “kidnapped” and the car stolen by two armed men on a motorbike, who blocked their path about 7 p.m. of Wednesday at the North Reclamation Area.
Wayne, who filed for annulment of their marriage recently, described a stormy relationship with his wife. The two separated several years ago, with three young children left in Agnelen’s care.
An ID of Agnelen E. Uy, who once took caregiving classes was found in the Kia Picanto sedan where her lifeless body was found. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Wayne accused his wife of having an illicit affair, and logged two complaints last August in the blotter of the Subangdaku, Mandaue police station after they had violent arguments.
Wayne, who owns a money lending firm, said he met Agnelen on Thursday so they could discuss their annulment, and were driving around from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Cebu and Mandaue cities.
Police noted a three-hour delay between the time of the alleged abduction and Wayne reporting to the police at 10:25 p.m. that assailants had commandeered the car and sped off with his wife still inside.
Wayne later said he was in a state of “shock” and fear.
MISSING LINK
Police said they could call again the two male employees, and a third employee, whom the two identified as being in the car, and a fourth employee who may know more about the case.
“Empleyado gihapon ni niya,” said Señor.
Police earlier said Wayne was a “person of interest,” not a crime suspect, and was released on Thursday night to his lawyer for lack of evidence tying him to his wife’s death.
His mobile phone is being examined along with fingerprints from a paraffin test.
Yesterday, police homicide investigators drove around, revisiting the places Wayne and Agnelen had gone.
Senior Insp. Elisandro Quijano, chief of Cebu City homicide section, said that other witnesses may surface to give a different account of what happened from.
Quijano said the businessman-spouse was released but Wayne is not yet off the hook.
“If we gather enough evidence against the husband, we will file a case. His release does not mean he is already safe from the case,” he said.
CCTV footage of the street where the car was found showed a man in shorts disembark from the car immediately after it was parked there at 7 p.m. of Wednesday.
But the area was dark and the poor resolution of the video made it difficult to identify the face.
Meanwhile, on request of her family, the remains of Agnelen were transferred from the Rolling Hills Funeral Homes to her hometown in La Libertad, Negros Oriental at 3 p.m. yesterday. Her father asked to bring his daughter’s body home.
An autopsy was already conducted, but the results were not yet released.
Police are still checking whether Agnelen was pregnant when she was killed. CSI operatives noticed Agnelen’s belly was unusually big for her structure. Her husband Wayne told police she was pregnant.
“We really could not confirm that without the autopsy,”said Quijano.