FROM the blue bassinet with matching pillows, to the fake white scrubs she wore at the hospital, the actions of 26-year-old Melissa Alilin Londres showed that her abduction of a newborn baby were well planned.
Why did she pick two-day-old baby Prince Nino?
Police investigators who reviewed security camera videos of the hospital said the woman appeared to be targeting a boy.
She would pick up different babies, and after holding the child, would put back the child after learning it was a girl, said Senior Supt. Marlon Tayaba, acting director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Region 7.
“Earlier videos showed that the suspect played her role. She acted as a staff member and even conversed with other medical officers at the hospital,”said Tayaba.
Police reviewed her movements based on CCTV footage for the past seven days, interviews with witnesses and a reenactment.
“We interviewed the mother and witnesses. We backtracked on the videos and came up with a timeline,” he said.
Londres’ choice of victim was a combination of cunning and chance.
A newborn would be easier to pass off as one’s offspring. An older child would just arouse suspicions of family or friends who didn’t notice Londres was even pregnant.
The young woman from Mandaue City had never met the baby’s parents before. The Celadania couple is from Minglanilla town, south Cebu.
The CIDG 7 was called in after the government hospital and GAP PROTECT security agency requested for assistance.
“We are trying to find out how she was able to enter the hospital (undetected),” said Tayaba.
The baby was taken at 12 noon, but police said witnesses reported seeing the woman board a taxi along the hospital exit on Osmena Boulevard at 2 p.m.
The two-hour gap is still a puzzle.
A reenactment of the kidnapping was made at the hospital yesterday.
Jayvee, the mother, saw the woman carrying the baby outside and tried to chase her but was blocked by a security guard. Photos and videos were released to the news media with police hotline numbers for informants to call Police Station 2.