By Juancho Gallarde and Judy Flores-Partlow
DUMAGUETE CITY, Feb. 15 (PNA) – Police investigators are now looking closely at the possibility that the weekend murder of a beauty queen in Dumaguete City could be strongly linked to her alleged relationship with a politician.
Dumaguete police chief Supt. Leopoldo Cabanag, who declined to reveal the name of the politician, told reporters on Monday that probers were now considering the policitician as a possible suspect in the gunslay of 25-year old Ann Rose Fe Bernadette Neri.
Neri, who won the crown as Miss Dumaguete 2007 and held several other beauty titles as well, was shot at close range Friday evening at the Quezon Park in Dumaguete by a lone triggerman believed to be a gun-for-hire, said Cabanag.
Ann Rose and her sister, Charisse, were attending a Miss Gay pageant rehearsal when the gunman approached her and shot her twice.
She was rushed to the Holy Child Hospital, just on the next block from the city park, but was pronounced dead on arrival.
The victim was said to have been receiving death threats.
The police have yet to determine the motive of the killing and have engaged the services of a cartographic sketch artist after locating several witnesses to the crime.
Cabanag said the family of the victim was cooperating in the investigation of the case.
However, Cabanag believes the suspect is a gun-for-hire from Ozamis City in Mindanao and could have left the city by now.
Cabanag said he had spoken to the politician and had told him that the police were now focusing their investigation on him, although he admitted there were also other angles being considered in the murder.
He assured that the investigation will proceed without fear or favor.
Meanwhile, the victim’s mother, Rolinda Neri, is calling for justice for the untimely death of her daughter.
She said she had no personal knowledge about the problems of her daughter Ann Rose, who usually confided in her friends instead.
Mrs. Neri admitted of previous incidents in the past that had even been reported to the police, such as the burning of her daughter’s car.
She said she has given some vital information to the police that would hopefully help in their investigation.
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