Cops form Task Force Scarlet

CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga  – Police authorities have formed “Task Force Scarlet” to investigate the gruesome killing of model Scarlet Garcia and three others in Olongapo City last Thursday.

Olongapo police chief Senior Superintendent Abelardo Villacorta said operatives from the city police force, the regional Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and other units of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the region had been appointed to the task force to hunt down the suspects behind the killings.

Villacorta said a separate team was formed to trace the vehicle used by the suspects.

He said a total of five teams have been formed under the task force which will separately pursue all possible angles and motives in the killings.

“They (suspects) are now the subject of a manhunt operation of the task force,” Villacorta said.

Villacorta said that aside from the love triangle angle, they are looking into possible involvement of policemen in the murders, noting that a police uniform was found at the crime scene.

He said investigators have not yet ruled out robbery and grudge as a possible motive behind the killings.

Garcia, who was reportedly featured in a 2007 issue of FHM magazine, was found slumped inside the bathroom along with her cousin Rachel Estacio.

The lifeless bodies of Garcia’s live-in partner Jorge Vitug Castor Jr. and Estacio’s live-in partner Von Mark Bandejas were found in the apartment’s living room.

Police said both were found with their arms and ankles tied with plastic cord.

All four victims, as well as Garcia’s pet dog, had been shot, Villacorta said.

Policemen discovered the bodies after firemen responded to the scene following reports of a fire inside Garcia’s apartment on Acacia Street in Barangay Gordon Heights.

Responding firemen found the bullet-riddled victims after putting out the fire that started on the third floor of the apartment.

Villacorta said investigators also found several spent .45 caliber and 9 mm casings at the crime scene, bolstering initial theories that two or more gunmen carried out the attack.

He said the suspects may have tried to burn down the apartment to conceal the crime.

Investigators are looking into the possibility of robbery as the rented apartment was completely in shambles.

Villacorta though noted there were no signs of forcible entry which dampens the theory of robbery as the motive for the murders.

He said it could have been motivated by business rivalry or jealousy.