DUMAGUETE CITY (PNA) – A Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) has been created to investigate the death of a Danish national who was killed along with his wife and another female shortly after they were released from detention in Valencia, Negros Oriental last week.
Col. Reynaldo Lizardo, police provincial director, told the Philippine News Agency on Wednesday, Feb. 15, that the special team will be composed of officers from the Police Regional Office 7 and the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office (NOPPO).
He said they are now coordinating with the Embassy of Denmark in the country which has earlier asked them for information about the death of their national.
The embassy initially contacted the Philippine National Police Foreign Legal Division before reaching out to them, he added.
“The Embassy of Denmark in the Philippines has asked us for information relative to the death of Tim Moerch and we have given them initial feedback,” Lizardo said.
Forty-five-year-old Danish Tim Moerch, of West Balabag, and Myla Ozoa Cagas, of Barangay Cadawinon, both of this capital city, were killed minutes apart at around 11:20 p.m. on Feb. 8, in Barangay Balugo, Valencia.
Moerch's legal wife, Karen Kate Cadiente, who was riding with him on a motorcycle at that time, was also shot dead during the attack.
Moerch, Cagas, and John Edward Remollo were tagged in the murder of Don Paulo Teves, the younger brother of Mayor Edgar Teves Jr. of Valencia and the son of the town’s former Mayor Edgar Teves Sr.
The task force, according to Lizardo, will exhaust all means in probing Moerch’s death, his wife, and Cagas who were shot dead in two separate incidents in Valencia.
The three were arrested several hours after Paulo’s body, wrapped in white cloth and plastic, was discovered in a trash dump on Feb. 6 in Purok 3, Barangay Calayugan in Valencia.
However, due to some technicalities in the arrest of the three, they were ordered released on Feb. 8, and then they were shot shortly by still unidentified men.
Remollo, the third suspect, meanwhile, has issued an extrajudicial confession, that provided the police with additional information relative to the twin shooting incidents, Lizardo said.
He declined to elaborate saying they are building up a case for filing in court after a new “accomplice” in the incidents surfaced in the course of the investigation.