Japanese national murdered

A 42-year-old Japanese national who owned several passenger jeepneys was found dead with multiple stab wounds inside his bedroom early yesterday morning in Makati City.

Case investigator Police Officer 2 Roderick Sunga said the victim Isao Shiozawa, a former mechanical engineer, was discovered dead on the bedroom floor of his apartment unit located on Novaliches corner Kakarong streets in Barangay Olympia.

Senior Inspector Emma Galero of the Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) said the victim sustained nine stab wounds. Five were in the back, two in the right shoulder and two in the left side of his body.

"We also lifted four sets of fingerprints. The room was in disarray. Some items may have been stolen, but we have not yet verified this information," Galero said.

Sunga said Shiozawa shared the unit with his common law wife of two years, Liezel Vergara, 27, and her 15-year-old son.

At 3 a.m., Vergara went out of the apartment to collect the boundary from jeepney drivers in Delpan, Makati City. The victim owned and operated four passenger jeepneys.

When she returned home at 4:30 a.m., she saw Shiozawa lying in a pool of blood inside their bedroom. Her son was asleep in the other room when the crime was committed.

Sunga admitted they have yet to establish the motive or the identity of the killer. "There are signs of forcible entry on the main door of the apartment," he said. – Evelyn Macairan