MITCH M. LIPA
The Bacolod Police crime scene operatives confirmed that the head and body of a man found in separate places in Bacolod Tuesday evening belonged to the same person but the SOCO report is still being awaited to determine if the salvage victim was, indeed, Glenn Paul Castillo.
Castillo’s live-in partner, Analie Baldevieso, who is detained at Police Station 9 for illegal drug charges, earlier positively identified the victim.
His sister abroad, who saw the crime scene pictures, also confirmed his identify.
The body was found at Rosario Street in Barangay 38, Bacolod, while the head was discovered in Barangay 2.
P/Supt. Sherlock Gabana, spokesperson of the Bacolod City Police Office, said investigators are looking into personal grudge and illegal drugs transaction as possible motives.
Police investigators are also evaluating the “bayad sa utang, interest pa lang, capital preparar para sumada” message written in a carton beside the body that could lead them to discover the personal transactions of Castillo.
On reports that the crime might be related to the shooting of a policeman Sunday afternoon since the body was found in the same area, Gabana said they are looking into this, but added that it could be a diversionary tactic of the perpetrators.
P/Staff Sergeant Joseph Nepomuceno, assigned at the BCPO Drug Enforcement Unit, was gunned down by still unidentified riding-in-tandem assailants.
Police Station 9 commander, P/Major Ritchie Gohee, meanwhile, said Castillo and Baldevieso were arrested with about P156,000 in illegal drugs during a buy-bust operation in their residence in Barangay Cabug on Aug. 21.
Castillo was released from detention Aug. 27 after he posted bail of P200,000 for possession of illegal drugs charges.
In a radio interview, his family abroad said they believed that the five unidentified persons who abducted Castillo from his house at Deca Homes, Barangay Cabug, were responsible for his killing.
Gohee said the Police Station 9 did not receive any report of abduction in their area of jurisdiction.
Castillo’s kin in Cavite requested that the body will be cremated and the ashes shipped to them. – MML
