Police still facing blank wall on Nueros' murder
More than a week after the gruesome murder of 34-year old Claire Nueros inside her home in Savannah subdivision, the police have yet to identify the assailants. Investigators are relying on the result of "scientific analysis" to pin down the suspects.
Senior Inspector Vicente Castor, chief of Oton Police Station, said they failed to gather concrete testimonies that could lead to the identification of the suspects.
Castor could not even categorically say whether Charmaine Larupay, Nueros' helper at the time of the murder, the victim's former helper and her boyfriend are considered suspects. The three were placed under custodial investigation after the killing. However, there is no evidence at hand that could directly link them to Nueros' death, Castor said.
Based on Larupay's accounts, she was able to untie herself and sought the help of the subdivision's security guards. The suspects also placed her in a separate room at the time of the incident.
The three were told to make themselves available if called for additional information on Nueros' death.
Based on the medical findings rendered by Dr. Owen Lebaquin of the Police Crime Laboratory, Nueros was raped before she was strangled to death.
The victim could have died of massive head injuries and strangulation. Lacerations was also found in Nueros' vagina, indicating the possibility that the victim was sexually abused, Lebaquin said.
He added the Scene of the Crime Operation (SOCO) has yet to release the results of the fingerprints lifted from the crime scene and those people called to shed light on the killing. As to date, probers have no idea on whether the fingerprints taken from the crime scene and from those personalities who were called for custodial investigation matched.
The identification of the suspects and its resolution is also hampered after police recovered no material evidence like a hard object which was used to hit the victim. The object could form part of the evidence against the suspects. The fingerprints left on the object could probably lead in the identification of the assailants, said Castor.
The police is trying to solve the case and figure out the motives of the killing apart from robbery. Investigators are still looking into different angles aside from the robbery, Castor said.