2 suspects in Fil-Am teen’s slay nabbed

DINALUPIHAN, Bataan — Two suspected killers of a 19-year-old American national had confessed to the crime and were nabbed by the police.

PO3 Rolando Amarga, Dinalupihan police investigator, said Richard Gunido Jr., alias Gotong, 18; and Rodolfo Soriano Jr., alias Burugudong, 16, both of Dinalupihan town, admitted to the killing of Mary Jehm Gipson, allegedly just to rob her of her cellphone.

Gipson’s decomposing body was found in a swamp near the Dinalupihan public market in San Ramon, Dinalupihan, Bataan last Saturday.

She has been reported missing since Oct. 27, 2006.

The two suspects pointed to a certain Jean "Tisay" Manalili, 26, as the mastermind. She, however, denied the accusation. The three are now detained at the Bataan Provincial Jail in Balanga City after their inquest at the Bataan Prosecutor’s Office last Saturday.

Police said Gipson’s cellphone was sold the following day for P2,000. It was recovered from the store owned by a Pakistani national at the Dinalupihan public market.

Gunido, reportedly a suitor of the victim, was nabbed by the Dinalupihan police with the assistance of members of PACER in Valenzuela, Metro Manila a few hours after the discovery of the victim’s body.

In an extra-judicial confession, Gunido said he punched Mary Jehm at the neck and held her hands as Soriano tied the victim’s neck with an iron wire.

The victim’s father, Jimmy Vitug Gipson, a member of the US Navy, said he last saw her daughter alive last May.

He arrived in Dinalupihan two days after her daughter was reported missing on Oct. 27. — Raffy Viray, Ric Sapnu