AUTHORITIES arrested on Sunday, November 19, one of the suspects in the brutal killing of 23-year-old Mabel Cama in Pasig City, a police official said.
Pasig City Police chief Senior Superintendent Orlando Yebra identified the suspect as Randy Oavenada, an in-house employee at the towing company garage in Pasig City where Cama’s body was found.
Cama was found dead, her body half-naked and burned on November 12. Police believed she was raped.
Yebra said the suspect denied participation in the crime but his fingerprints match the sample taken from a cellphone that was found beside Cama’s body.
"'Yung pag-amin niya ay inaasahan namin na hindi niya gagawin pero siya po ang tinuturo ng ebidensiya kaya't wala siyang magagawa roon (We don't expect him to admit to the crime, but the evidence points to him. There's nothing he can do)," Yebra said.
He said the suspect also tested positive for illegal drugs use.
Police are still hunting more suspects as they believed Oavenada was not alone.
"Sa ngayon, isa pa lang ang arestado natin pero kami po ay hindi naniniwala na gagawin niya nang mag-isa 'yun. So ngayon, tuloy-tuloy ang ating investigation (As of now, we have made only one arrest. We believe he did not commit the crime alone. So our investigation continues)," he said.
Earlier, Yebra said they were looking for five persons of interest in Cama’s case.
According to witnesses, they saw Cama past 11 p.m. on November 10 knocking on the doord to her house within the compound along Ortigas Avenue Extension in Pasig.
She was later found around 40 meters away. Her handbag was found under a bus parked in front of a neighborhood store while her shawl was recovered from the wind shield of a mini van in the same compound. Several buttons believed to have come from the victim’s blouse were found outside the towing garage.
Yebra said the evidence showed there was a struggle between Cama and the suspects, who could have been under the influence of illegal drugs. (SunStar Philippines)