BANAUE, Ifugao- The main suspect in the brutal slaying of US Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell, whose body was found in a shallow grave in Battad, Ifugao 10 days after she disappeared on Easter Sunday has been identified but police are not arresting him yet due to lack of concrete evidence to pin him down. The blurred picture of suspect Juan Dontugan was one of the objects investigators gathered from his house, which also yielded two pairs of bloodied denim jeans and a rice pestle. Police believe the pestle was the murder weapon.
Police said, however, that the pieces of evidence were circumstantial. “He (Dontugan) can still be considered as a witness. We are encouraging him to surface and tell the police what he knows, if any, about it (crime),” Cordillera Regional Police director Chief Supt. Raul Gonzales said.
Gonzales said investigators have yet to find direct evidence to link Dontugan to the killing of Campbell .
He said the denim pants and the rice pestle were just circumstantial evidence.
“We have to strengthen the case because all we have are circumstantial evidence. We have to find direct evidence against him to warrant the filing of charges in court,” Gonzales said. He also said police had no warrant when they searched Dontugan’s house because the search was done with the consent of the suspect’s wife. He remains at large.
“We believe he already left the area. He had a lot of time from the moment he committed the crime to the time the crime was discovered,” Gonzales said.
Earlier, police said there might be more than one suspect because they found two pairs of denim pants with bloodstains on them.
“It’s not possible for a lone attacker to have two pairs of pants while committing the crime,” Gonzales said.
In Camp Crame , Chief Supt. Arturo Cacdac, director of the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory, said Dontugan should come out in the open if he is not guilty and let forensic investigators establish his innocence.
“If his fingerprints will not match the samples taken from the pieces of evidence recovered from the crime scene, then he will be cleared of charges,” Cacdac said.
He said even if the bloodstains on the pants match that of Campbell ’s, police would still have to establish if the pants belong to the suspect.
Cacdac said the US pathologists who observed PNP forensic experts at work expected a “very expensive” operation.
He said five US pathologist observed the autopsy procedure, which was undertaken by 17 men from the PNP crime lab. Initial results showed Campbell died of a blow to the head. Forensic experts were still analyzing 18 pieces of potential evidence that may help police solve the gruesome murder.
Submitted recently for a laboratory examination were two red empty tin cans of sardines, an empty green cigarette pack, a plastic bottle of sunblock lotion, a makeup kit, a piece of crumpled paper, a digital camera bag, an empty bottle of mineral water without cover, and two pairs of eye-glasses, one of which was damaged.
Earlier gathered from Dontugan’s house were wooden pestle with what appeared to be bloodstains, two pairs of bloodied denim pants, a black baseball cap with the marking “June,” and what looked like sputum in a brown envelop.
Police earlier made public a photograph Dontugan but said more pieces of evidence were needed to pin him down for the crime.
Chief Supt. Samuel Pagdilao, PNP spokesman, said in Camp Crame the suspect should present himself to authorities if he wanted to clear his name.
“If he has nothing to hide, then he should come forward and clear his name,” Pagdilao said. He also said that more than one suspect might be involved in the crime because two pairs of bloodied jeans were found.
Police said, however, that the pieces of evidence were circumstantial. “He (Dontugan) can still be considered as a witness. We are encouraging him to surface and tell the police what he knows, if any, about it (crime),” Cordillera Regional Police director Chief Supt. Raul Gonzales said.
Gonzales said investigators have yet to find direct evidence to link Dontugan to the killing of Campbell .
He said the denim pants and the rice pestle were just circumstantial evidence.
“We have to strengthen the case because all we have are circumstantial evidence. We have to find direct evidence against him to warrant the filing of charges in court,” Gonzales said. He also said police had no warrant when they searched Dontugan’s house because the search was done with the consent of the suspect’s wife. He remains at large.
“We believe he already left the area. He had a lot of time from the moment he committed the crime to the time the crime was discovered,” Gonzales said.
Earlier, police said there might be more than one suspect because they found two pairs of denim pants with bloodstains on them.
“It’s not possible for a lone attacker to have two pairs of pants while committing the crime,” Gonzales said.
In Camp Crame , Chief Supt. Arturo Cacdac, director of the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory, said Dontugan should come out in the open if he is not guilty and let forensic investigators establish his innocence.
“If his fingerprints will not match the samples taken from the pieces of evidence recovered from the crime scene, then he will be cleared of charges,” Cacdac said.
He said even if the bloodstains on the pants match that of Campbell ’s, police would still have to establish if the pants belong to the suspect.
Cacdac said the US pathologists who observed PNP forensic experts at work expected a “very expensive” operation.
He said five US pathologist observed the autopsy procedure, which was undertaken by 17 men from the PNP crime lab. Initial results showed Campbell died of a blow to the head. Forensic experts were still analyzing 18 pieces of potential evidence that may help police solve the gruesome murder.
Submitted recently for a laboratory examination were two red empty tin cans of sardines, an empty green cigarette pack, a plastic bottle of sunblock lotion, a makeup kit, a piece of crumpled paper, a digital camera bag, an empty bottle of mineral water without cover, and two pairs of eye-glasses, one of which was damaged.
Earlier gathered from Dontugan’s house were wooden pestle with what appeared to be bloodstains, two pairs of bloodied denim pants, a black baseball cap with the marking “June,” and what looked like sputum in a brown envelop.
Police earlier made public a photograph Dontugan but said more pieces of evidence were needed to pin him down for the crime.
Chief Supt. Samuel Pagdilao, PNP spokesman, said in Camp Crame the suspect should present himself to authorities if he wanted to clear his name.
“If he has nothing to hide, then he should come forward and clear his name,” Pagdilao said. He also said that more than one suspect might be involved in the crime because two pairs of bloodied jeans were found.
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