Immigration chief to look into suicide-death of American teacher
Sunday's reported suicide-death of an American transient in a plush village in La Paz District, Iloilo City will be looked into by the Immigration chief here.
With police probers under the Police Precinct 2 (PP2) dismissing any foul play, Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID) regional chief said he will secure official report on the incident. Such, alongside the bureau's effort to inform American Embassy officials on the plight of the victim, 58 year-old Charles Shield of Texas.
In a report, The News Today (TNT) gathered that Shield had since stayed at a rented apartment in Ledesco City Homes since December. Neighbors told authorities that Shield was then seen with his Filipina partner, 39 year-old Elva Sacres, a native of Catanduanes. Yet since early February, Sacres has reportedly left said American national amidst talks of domestic squabble.
TNT in a check with PP2 operatives on the case was told that Shield when discovered lifeless inside his rented apartment along San Juan Street showed no signs of foul play. To date, an autopsy has yet to be conducted with the victim's remains left unclaimed in one funeral parlor. What was clear, one prober said, was that Shield's remains bore no signs of trauma. The "suicide-theory" was further bolstered with handwritten notes believed to be left by Shield discovered by police. One of the many notes allegedly expressed the victim's desire to leave all his belongings to his Filipina partner.
Neighbors also said the American national appeared to be depressed in the past weeks and was seen drinking by his lonesome in a local hang-out in the village. No further details were readily available as police have yet to reach Sacres who was not seen by neighbors since her February departure.
Shield upon check on the records of the BID regional office here was not amongst the documented foreign nationals in Iloilo or throughout Western Visayas. As such, Tubal said, further validation will be made in the national BID records with the bureau hoping to reach the victim's Filipina partner.
It was reported that Shield came to the Philippines early last year and allegedly married Sacres in December, same time they rented the apartment in Ledesco City Homes. He was also reportedly a teacher and writer and formerly worked in Taiwan.