Seares: Christine killer: how Bueno, person of interest, becomes main suspect

FROM a “person of interest” when Jonas Martel Bueno was arrested in Davao City last Friday, March 15, he became two days later the “primary suspect” in the savage murder of Christine Lee Silawan, a 16-year-old high school student of Maribago High School in Lapu-Lapu City.

It’s not clear yet though if the rise in Bueno’s status in Mindanao fits in with his classification in Lapu-Lapu City.

Basis of suspicion

Mindanao police have told media what may be their basis for reclassifying Bueno’s status in the investigation:

[1] Bueno admitted taking part in the murder of a farmer in Danao City last Jan. 18, in which his two brothers Junrey and Jovy were killed in a shootout with cops;

[2] The methods used in the farmer’s killing and in Silawan’s March 10 murder are “so similar”;

[3] A text message retrieved from the phone of Silawan’s relatives indicated that Bueno communicated with the teenage victim before the killing.

Possible ‘spoilers’

Against that suspicion is this array of possible spoilers, one of which may shoot the police theory down:

n Bueno said he, his wife, two children and an uncle left Cebu for Davao two weeks before the killing, stayed with his wife’s relatives and had been working at as laborer at a construction company;

While the defense of alibi is generally weak, it can be air-tight if it can be proved, by witnesses and paper trail, that Bueno could not have been in Lapu-Lapu on the date of Christine’s murder.

n The connection between the two murders is said to be the method used, specifically the skinning of the face of the victim, from the chest up in the farmer’s death, and from the neck up, in Christine’s death.

Forensic evidence

Yet, there was no showing that an autopsy was made on the farmer’s killing. As it was a shut-and-open case and the three brothers were quickly identified (two of them killed in the gunfight), forensic exams were probably not made. Unlike in Christine’s murder, where the tests were required because the killer has still to be identified. As of the weekend, the forensic results were still not available from the police crime lab in Manila.

As to the text message link, it could be clutching at straw as the message was in a relative’s, not Christine’s phone, and merely “indicated,” did not expressly say. A lead worth exploring but not yet solid evidence.

Demolishing alibi

Bueno admitted to the South Mindanao regional police and the media that he participated in the Danao killing but denied he killed Christine.

If he wouldn’t change his testimony–and it’s possible intensive grilling might persuade him to–police have the heavier task of demolishing his alibi with contradictory evidence and supporting the “similar method” theory with forensic findings.

There’s not much difference really between a person of interest and primary suspect. Police, it is said, sometimes use the label of “person of interest” to hide what evidence it actually has while it is still building up the case.

The reward money

Anyway, they can still hold Bueno on the Danao murder charge while they gather evidence that can convince the prosecutors of a probable cause.

The reward money of P2 million may be complicating the situation instead of speeding up the solution to Christine’s murder. The rush to “solve” the case might prompt the use of a fall guy. What’s another murder to own? Anyway, Bueno would stay in jail for a long time for another murder.

Trending

No stories found.

Just in

No stories found.

Branded Content

No stories found.
SunStar Publishing Inc.
www.sunstar.com.ph