Veteran cop suspects Strunk’s hand in Nida slay

A veteran San Juan police investigator, who initially handled the Nida Blanca slay case, testified yesterday that he suspects that her American husband Rod Strunk had something to do with her murder in November 2001.

A police investigator for almost 22 years now, SPO2 Honorio Cartalla Jr. said Strunk exhibited "unusual" behavior when he gave statements to the San Juan police hours after the discovery of Blanca’s body inside her parked car at the 6th floor of the Atlanta Towers in Greenhills.

"Sa behavior ni Rod Strunk noong kinukunan ko siya ng pahayag, nagkaroon ako ng hinala na may kinalaman siya sa pagkamatay ni Nida Blanca," said Cartalla when asked by Judge Alex Quiroz, of the Pasig City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 156 to describe Strunk’s behavior during the resumption of the hearing yesterday.

According to Cartalla, Strunk gave him little details surrounding the death of Blanca.

Cartalla showed to Quiroz and prosecution lawyer Mike Jalandoni, a photo copy of Strunk’s four-page statement .

However, Cartalla kept his suspicion to himself after the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) took over the investigation of Blanca’s death.

Strunk, tagged as the mastermind in his wife’s death, was recently arrested in the US. The government is currently working for his extradition.

The American vehemently denied having anything to do with Blanca’s murder.

The resumption of hearings started at 10:25 a.m. yesterday.

The first witness, Manuel Macasa, a security guard of Atlanta Towers, ended his testimony by presenting a log book showing the date and exact time Blanca, Dorothy Jones in real life, went in and out of the offices of the Movie Television Regulatory and Classification Board (MTRCB) located on the 32nd floor of the building.

Strunk revealed in his statement that he rushed to the Atlanta Towers at 2 a.m. on Nov. 7 to check the whereabouts of Blanca, who failed to come home.

He admitted seeing the actress’ green-colored Nissan Sentra at the parking lot but failed to check the back seat of the vehicle where Blanca’s body was eventually found. The body was discovered by Macasa six hours later.

Yesterday’s trial ended at 11:45 a.m. Quiroz set the next hearing on July 22.