By Tetch Torres, Thea Alberto
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 12:50pm (Mla time) 07/14/2007
MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE 3) The husband of murdered movie actress Nida Blanca died after falling from a 2-story inn in Tracy, California and police there ruled it a suicide.
Roger "Rod" Strunk, 68, who was one of the prime suspects in the murder of his wife, Dorothy Jones in real life, was found dead on the pavement outside the Tracy Inn at 24 W. 11th around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday (US time), said Matt Robinson, Tracy police public information officer.
"Yes he did," Robinson told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview, when asked if Strunk committed suicide.
There were also no indications of foul play, said Robinson.
Nida Blanca's daughter, Kaye Torres, declined to comment on Strunk's death until she gets official confirmation from Tracy officials.
Torres said she would want to personally gather details about Strunk's death before making any comment, a report from QTV's Balitanghali newscast on Saturday said.
Strunk was implicated in the killing of his wife in November 2001 by arrested suspect Philip Medel, who claimed Strunk had hired him to kill Blanca.
Strunk left for the US in 2002 to visit his ailing mother, Helen Strunk, before he could be charged for Blanca’s killing.
He never returned to the Philippines.
Murder charges were eventually filed against him but he successfully evaded extradition from the US after Medel recanted his statement implicating Strunk.
Blanca was found stabbed to death in a car parked in the parking area of Atlanta Building.
“Everything will go with him to the grave,†Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said, reacting to news of Strunk’s death,
"I only heard it from the news. We have not received any official communication from the US government," Gonzalez said, adding that the government had a filed a second extradition case against Strunk.
"Now that he's dead, his extradition [and] murder case are already moot and academic," Gonzalez said.
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Topic: Nida Blanca’s husband Strunk falls to death in California (Read 2011 times)