BAGUIO CITY – Police already launched a massive manhunt operation against the suspect in the brutal murder of a 68-year old well-known local businessman who was found dead with multiple stab wounds on the different parts of his body around 10:30 am Tuesday.
Senior Superintendent Rolando F. Miranda, officer-in-charge of the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO), said probers have taken into custody three possible witnesses who have direct knowledge on the identity of the lone suspect that helped them establish a very important lead that would lead to the resolution of one of the city’s celebrated murder incidents.
“We were already able to establish a definite lead and the possible identity of the perpetrator, thus, the launching of a manhunt operation against him. We want to handle the crime as safe as possible to avoid it from being bungled,” Miranda stressed.
It can be recalled that Henry Tan Lao, 68, owner of some of the Tiong San stores I Baguio and La Trinidad, Benguet, was found lifeless inside his house at barangay Ferdinand, Baguio City.
Miranda reported the victim sustained 34 stab wounds in the different parts of his body with four of them considered to be fatal which caused his instantaneous death.
According to him, several neighbors of the victim told probers that they heard loud noises inside the house as if there were individuals quarrelling Monday night but they did not report the matter to the police because such incidents are usual occurrences in the house over the past several weeks.
It was learned that the victim’s cellphone and a huge amount of money inside his wallet were missing during the conduct of the needed investigation, thus, probers theorized that robbery was one of the motives of the victim’s murder.
The police official explained the suspect might be known to the victim because there was no forcible entry inside the house and that based on the testimony of witnesses, the suspect was able to flee from the crime scene unnoticed late Monday night.
He added that based on the situation in the crime scene, the suspect and the victim might have been involved in a struggle because the house was in disarray upon the arrival of investigators.
Further, the BCPO official claimed the suspect also tried to look for other things to take inside the house because the victim’s things were scattered all over the place.
He belied earlier reports that millions of pesos were carted away by the suspect from the victim, saying that the amount that was taken was probably in the thousands but verifications are still underway on the real amount that was also stolen from him.
Miranda said that they are now closely following up a lead that was established based on the testimonies of the possible witnesses but he is not yet at liberty to divulge the motive of the victim’s murder.
By Dexter A. See
