Sunday, December 30, 2007 Robbery likely motive in Swiss senior’s killing
ROBBERY with homicide is now the angle being verified by Homicide Section investigators in the stabbing to death of a Swiss national.
Senior Insp. Mario Monilar, Cebu City police homicide section chief, said that unless a stronger lead turns up, it appears that Roger Bertschinger, 70, was robbed before he was killed.
Monilar said that Bertschinger’s high-end cellular phone and his white Toyota Corolla were missing, but the car was spotted yesterday.
Investigators have yet to confirm if any cash was taken from the foreigner’s apartment.
Bertschinger, a magician for a bar at the North Reclamation Area, was found dead with multiple stab wounds in his rented apartment in Barangay Camputhaw, Cebu City last Friday afternoon.
Housekeeper Josephine Hedlon, 36, found the body around 4 p.m. Friday.
A team of homicide investigators led by SPO4 Alex Dacua found two knives in the victim’s room, one of them long and covered with blood.
Monilar, in a mobile phone interview, said that at 8:20 a.m. yesterday, Bertschinger’s car was found abandoned along the road in St. Jude Acres, Barangay Bulacao.
He said the car was brought to the PNP Regional Crime Laboratory 7 so that latent prints can be lifted from the vehicle and perhaps lead the police to the perpetrators. (JST)
