Justice served but not in the right way
Case close and that many said justice was already served served but some others said he shouldn't be executed because the justice will finally be served by the rule of law or through court's decision. The family wasn't able to hear the side of the suspect on why he killed Karen. The police are still investigating who killed the suspect.
EXACTLY a week after Karen Kaye Montebon was killed, the police found yesterday her suspected killer lying on a bridge in Barangay Nasingin in Getafe, Bohol, with a gunshot wound in the head.
A team from the Getafe Police Office (GPO) and Lapu-Lapu City Police Office (LLCPO) was about to dock in Nasingin, an islet of Getafe, when they heard several gunshots, said Senior Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, supervisor of the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) created to handle the Montebon case.
They saw 23-year-old Ruben Fernandez lying lifeless on the bridge of Nasingin, some 300 meters away from the shoreline where the police docked their two pump boats.
Fernandez was the person whom the LLCPO was considering as a suspect in the death of Montebon, a 17-year-old college student of the University of San Carlos.
Robbery was the motive behind the attack on Montebon, said Lawas, who is also the acting directorial staff chief of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7.
The SITG will meet today to discuss their next steps on the case.
Montebon was found dead by her father in her bedroom past 5 p.m. last Sept. 15 inside Corinthians Subdivision in Barangay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City.
Last Monday morning, LLCPO chief Armando Radoc received a call from Rosalyn Hummel in Hawaii, who said that her sister, Jenalyn Soon of Barangay San Vicente in Olango Island, had a big problem.
The police official said he then found out that Jenalyn was the woman who went to Montebon’s house just hours before the teenager was found dead.
Connection
Radoc immediately sent a team to Olango Island to pick up Jenalyn, who was accompanied by her sister Josephine.
Jenalyn told the police she was close to the Montebon family because Rosalyn usually sent money for her sisters through Karen Kaye’s mother.
Jenalyn went to the Montebons’ house last Tuesday to ask if Rosalyn had already sent some money.
She rode a motorcycle driven by her live-in partner, Fernandez.
After Radoc gathered the details, 14 policemen from the LLCPO were sent to Getafe last Monday afternoon to go after Fernandez.
Interviewed separately, Lawas said it was past 4 p.m. yesterday when policemen from LLCPO and GPO went to the area, headed by Senior Insp. Marceleno Mejias, GPO chief.
“Wa pa sila kadunggo nakadungog sila’g mga buto sa Barangay Nasingin. Ang buto (When they were about to dock, they heard gunshots in Nasingin. The gunshots) lasted a minute or two,” Lawas said.
They then saw the body on the bridge, whom they recognized was Fernandez based on a photo Jenalyn had given them and a tattoo on his body.
Record
“Some of the witnesses had identified Fernandez as the one who killed Karen Kaye Montebon,” he said.
Lawas said that the Getafe police will investigate to find out what motivated the attack on Fernandez.
Fernandez had been in and out of the Lapu-Lapu City Jail because of theft and robbery cases. He was released last September 2014.
Radoc said that Fernandez was in Nasingin because his sister was living there.
When Fernandez and Jenalyn left the Montebons’ house past 8 a.m. on Sept. 15, the suspect stopped in Sitio Mahayahay in Barangay Bankal, Lapu-Lapu, he said.
He reportedly told Jenalyn that he was running out of fuel and asked her to disembark. He then drove away.
The suspect, Jenalyn told the police, left her behind but met her again past 1 p.m. in Marigondon.
This time, he brought a bag.
Pawned
Jenalyn told the police that she saw a DLSR camera, earrings, necklace, a portable PlayStation and power bank in the bag.
Jenalyn said she also noticed that an iPad was hidden behind her live-in partner’s back.
Radoc said the DSLR camera, one of the items taken from Karen Kaye’s room, was pawned by one of Fernandez’s friends.
“The camera was pawned for P5,000, which the suspect used to buy illegal drugs,” Radoc said.
He said that Fernandez told Jenalyn he was leaving to get the motorcycle past 5 a.m. the next day, but never came back.
It was only on Thursday last week that Jenalyn learned about the teenager’s death.
She later told the police that her conscience bothered her, Radoc said.
After recovering the girl’s camera from a pawnshop, the police went to Bohol in search of the other items.
(Another initial report said that Karen Kaye’s bag was recovered from Fernandez’s mother.)
Breakthrough
The bridge where Fernandez was found was reportedly near his sister Ibyang’s house, but she was in Clarin at that time.
Lawas said they will invite her to confirm when Fernandez arrived in Getafe.
For his part, Lawas told reporters the police will still continue their investigation.
As of 8 last night, the LLCPO police team was still in Bohol.
In a press statement, Lapu-Lapu Mayor Radaza said the development was a major breakthrough in the case.
“I thank the police for working very hard to give justice to the senseless killing of a very young Oponganon, Karen Kaye. I thank her classmates, the youth and the Cebuanos in general for making their voices heard by using social media with hashtag #justiceforkarenkayemontebon to push the police to resolve the case quickly. The vigilance of the traditional media has also seen to it that the pursuit of the killer didn’t waver,” Radaza said.
As to the P500,000 reward, Radaza assigned the Office of the City Attorney to coordinate with the police to ensure that the reward will go to the right person.
source: sunstar.com.ph