NAGUILIAN, La Union – The police here have been baffled by the identity of a man whose body was found with a deep slash wound on his neck along Bessang Road in the village of Lioac Norte of this town last Tuesday morning.
Chief Inspector Cirilo Butigan, Jr., Naguilian chief of police, said the unidentified victim was found lying on the said road, a few meters away from a motorcycle bearing plate ZJ 4679, with the Official Receipt Certification of Registration (ORCR) and registered under the name of a certain Edward Apiado Soriano of Barangay Acao in the nearby town of Bauang. .
Except for a man’s hair comb recovered on his right back pocket of his jeans, no identification card (ID) or a cellphone was found on the man’s clothing, according to Butigan.
He said that with respect to the registered owner of the vehicle, Soriano was hospitalized recently due to illnesses, and it was possible that the owner’s motorbike was sold to the victim.
But Butigan did not say that the police have verified in person the identity of Soriano, and it is also possible that he was the victim.
Earlier, Butigan told his men to check on a vehicular incident which was reported to the police station; however, it was found out that it was a case of killing with a knife or deadly weapon prompting them to call personnel of the Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO).
“ We have not yet established the motive of the killing,”Butigan said. “It was probably homicide, or robbery since the wallet of the victim was missing, but if it is robbery, why did the killer or killers not carted away the victim’s motorcycle?”
According to Chief Inspector Melani Joy Ordoño, SOCO team leader, the victim was wearing a Levis denim blue pants, blue shirt, olive green hooded sweatshirt, and maroon Adidas rubber shoes, about 30-35 years-old, medium built, and 5’3 in height. Aside from ORCR of the motorcycle, several peso coins, some motor brake spare, tools, and a Swish kitchen knife were also found inside the pockets of the victim and in the vehicle.
The body of the victim was taken to a funeral home in Bauang, while police here are still conducting further investigation of the incident.