Korean found dead in Mandaluyong condo

MANILA, Philippines - A Korean woman was found dead Thursday in a condominium unit she had been renting in Mandaluyong City.

Lee Ru Da, alias Irene Lee, was found sprawled on the floor of her unit at the condominium building at the corner of Pioneer and Madison streets. Her body bore no gunshot or stab wounds, according to Eastern Police District (EPD) director Chief Superintendent Miguel Laurel.

She was clad in a blue tube dress but had no underwear. She was covered by a blanket when she was found at around 2 p.m. by her business partner and former boyfriend, Joseph John Cabrera, 32.

“There is a strong possibility that she was strangled to death and the suspect was also from the condo unit as there is no sign of forced entry into her condo unit,” a police investigator said, adding they are also checking whether Lee was raped.

Cabrera told Chief Inspector Carlito Canlas, chief of the criminal investigation unit of the Mandaluyong City police, that he sent his driver, Manny Guzman, to fetch Lee as she was late for their business meeting and after she did not answer text messages and calls on her two cell phones.

However, the condominium’s security guards refused Guzman entry.

Accompanied by Lee’s friend, Sukyung Shim, Cabrera himself went to the condominium but they too were refused entry by the security guards, prompting them to seek the help of the building’s administrator.

Canlas said the door of Lee’s unit was closed but not locked, which indicates that whoever attacked her was someone she knew.