Monday, August 04, 2008 Police face blank wall in Matina ambush By Carlo P. Mallo
THE Davao City Police Office has not yet narrowed down its original list of possible motives behind the gruesome murder of the Cajoles couple at Ultra Homes in Matina Aplaya, Davao City on Monday last week.
"We have no specific angle yet," City Police Director Ramon Apolinario said in an interview.
Apolinario said they are still thoroughly investigating the case due to the numerous angles that have sprouted.
"Aside from their businesses here in the city, they also have other businesses in other areas," Apolinario said.
The couple Rene and Mollie Cajoles just arrived home from work and from their children's school when three gunmen killed them, pumping several bullets into the couple's bodies.
The 12-year-old son, Rene Jr., was also hit on the head. He is reportedly considered for cranial surgery to get the slug out. The helper was also wounded, while the eldest girl, a college freshman, survived.
Rene was a former New People's Army (NPA) leader in the late 1980's, and this is one of the angles the police are looking at.
Another angle the police are looking into is the Cajoleses membership in the Malalag Banana Growers in Malalag, Davao del Sur, which has been fiercely contested by claimants.
The police are also not discounting robbery as a motive since the gunmen ran away with Mollie's bag, which is said to contain the couple's earnings for the day.
One other angle is business rivalry, with the Cajoloses being rice traders and owner of a rice stall in Agdao public market.
Police found 20 empty shells and five slugs of a caliber .45 gun at the crime scene. The couple's vehicle, an Isuzu Sportivo, was riddled with bullets.
Apolinario said the cartographic sketch for two of the three to five suspects are already being prepared and will be released anytime.
