THE Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) has declared the man in the photo that they recently shared online as the person of interest (POI) in the brutal murder of Rhea Mae Tocmo after a witness came forward to confirm his identification.
According to CCPO Chief Colonel Ireneo Dalogdog, the purpose of the call is to identify the individual in the photo in order to shed light on the ongoing police investigation and solve the death of Tocmo.
A native of Jasaan town in Misamis Oriental, the 19-year-old Tocmo was found dead and wrapped inside a cardboard box left on the roadside in Sitio Mohon, Barangay Tisa, Cebu City on July 17, 2023.
She arrived in Cebu last June 11 to find a job.
Dalogdog revealed that the POI sold the victim's cell phone at a store in the downtown area.
Two days after purchasing the item, the buyer, who requested anonymity, accessed the mobile phone's gallery and discovered Rhea Mae's photos, whose images he had previously seen on social media and who had been murdered and dumped in Tisa.
He then went to the Labangon police station to turn over the cellphone and gave information about the seller.
The buyer claimed that the POI first went to a shop in the Carbon area to have the victim's phone unlocked but was charged P800, which he felt to be extremely expensive, leading him to decide to sell the phone to the buyer for P2,500, but the latter asked to reduce the price to P1,700, which the former agreed.
According to the buyer, the POI initially went to a store in the Carbon area to have the victim's phone unlocked, but was charged P800, which he found to be very expensive, prompting him to decide to sell the phone to the buyer for P2,500.
However, the buyer later requested a price reduction to P1,700, to which the POI consented.
"Ang unang gi attempt niya is iyahang ipa-unlock kasi naka lock ang cellphone eh, so nangutana pilay bayad niingon man nga P800 wala guro siyay ikabayad niadto siya sa usa pero mao gihapon ang bayad up to the point nga ni-decide siya nga ibaligya sa P2,500 nya gihangyo sad siya og P1,700 mao to gibaligya nalang gyud niya. after two days anha pa na discover sa buyer na ang kato diay nga cellphone mao diay to ang gipanag-iya sa biktima nga si Rhea Mae Tocmo," Dalogdog said.
(He first wanted to unlock the cellphone and was told the payment is P800, but since he may not have had money to pay, he tried another one but he was charged the same amount up to the point that he decided to sell it for P2,500, which was reduced to P1,700. The buyer learned that the phone belonged to the victim, Rhea Mae Tocmo, after two days).
The mobile phone is now in the custody of the PNP Forensic Unit 7 and it is scheduled to be submitted to the PNP Cybercrime Unit-7.
Dalogdog advised the public to inform them right away if they have knowledge on the POI.(AYB, TPT)