CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Another suspect in the brutal murder of a delivery rider and the rape of his girlfriend fell into the hands of the authorities on Tuesday, July 19, two days after the arrest of the first suspect.
Police Lt. Ronie Lynn Vedra, the Agora Police Station deputy commander, in a phone interview, identified the suspect as Daniel Peligrino, 33, of Saint John, Barangay Puntod in this city.
According to Vedra, Peligrino, who was previously arrested due to involvement in illegal drugs and currently under probation, was positively identified by Cris Semaña’s girlfriend as the one who raped her on the night Semaña was slain.
The investigators said that the girlfriend, who is a minor, vividly recalled the suspect’s eyes, body posture and the voice as she positively identified Peligrino, one of the possible three suspects in the crime.
Semaña, the delivery rider, was stabbed to death three days ago at Coastal Road, Barangay Lapasan.
Vedra said Peligrino has been identified through some information they gathered from Erwin Adame, 34, of Tabaco, Saint John, Barangay Puntod, who is the first suspect arrested by the police here in the killing of Semaña.
“Denial man gyud sila. Pero base sa iya statement nga nag-uban sila pero wala sya niangkon nga sila gyud ang nagkuan. (They were really in denial. However, based on his statement that they were together but he did not admit that they are the ones ),” Vedra said.
Semaña’s girlfriend also identified Adame through mugshots at the Agora police station and said that Adame was one of the suspects who held and stabbed Semaña.
While the girlfriend was waiting at the Agora police station, Peligrino had been instructed by the police to wear a black face mask and a black ball cap before he was shown to the rape victim.
According to the police, the girlfriend positively identified the suspect as the one who raped her after she saw the suspect’s eyes, body posture and heard the voice.
“During nga nag-atubang na gani sila murag nangurog na ang atoang biktima, naghilak na siya kay murag naa pa syay trauma nga katong nanglugos sa iyaha iyaha nang naatubang. (When they (Peligrino and the minor victim] faced each other, the victim seemed trembling. She already cried maybe because she still has a trauma that she is facing the person who raped her),” Vedra added.
The Agora police deputy commander has confirmed that the Semaña’s girlfriend was raped after they received Monday, July 19, the result of the victim’s medico-legal examination.
Semaña and his girlfriend only went to the Coastal Road to settle their problem when two individuals approached and pointed a knife at them, and brought them to a nearby grassy area.
The delivery rider sustained 10 stab wounds which resulted in his instantaneous death.
Lt. Macario Linog Jr., also the deputy commander of Agora police station, earlier said that there are three possible suspects in the case and police’s follow up investigation has been ongoing to arrest one more suspect.
Adame and Peligrino are currently detained at the custodial facility of Agora Police Station.