AUTOPSY results showed the physician found dead inside his car in Bago City, Negros Occidental on Thursday was stabbed 13 times.
Senior Inspector Hercules Trigue, deputy chief for administration of Bago City Police Station, said on Friday, December 29, that one or two unidentified men killed Dr. Felix Valenzuela, 82, of Purok Matinipigon, Barangay Lag-asan.
Trigue said the 13 fatal stab wounds were in the victim’s chest. His right hand was also injured.
On December 28, Valenzuela's car was found along the national highway of Kilometer 14 in Barangay Calumangan around 6 a.m.
A concerned citizen informed the police about a car parked beside the road since Wednesday evening.
Trigue said Valenzuela was apparently on his way home from work when he was killed and left along the highway.
He was a former city health officer, and worked as a medical examiner at the Land Transportation Office in Bacolod City.
Trigue said they cannot yet establish the motive because they are eyeing two or more angles behind the doctor's death.
Police dismissed robbery in the incident based on the initial investigation but such angle is being considered again after authorities knew that the victim visited a bank Wednesday morning.
Trigue said they are waiting for a copy of the closed-circuit television footage of a shopping mall, where he was also working, and the statement of a bank employee who transacted with him before the incident.
The victim probably knew the perpetrator and let him drive because he was seated on the front seat when found, he added.
Police continued to check the victim's valuables to clearly determine if there was robbery.
Land conflict is also being eyed because the victim's family claimed that the doctor received threats related to it.