Murder raps filed vs 2 Americans

MANILA, Philippines — The Mandaluyong police yesterday filed charges of murder against two American men in connection with the killing of an American woman who was found dead in the Pasig River Sunday.

There is enough evidence to pin down Troy Woody, 21, and Mir Sirajul Islam, 22, in the death of Woody’s alleged girlfriend Tomi Michelle Masters, 22, city police chief Senior Superintendent Moises Villaceran Jr. told The STAR. 

Masters’ body was recovered by officers of the Manila Police District near the Elliptical Road in Baseco Compound after Grab driver Kenneth Quimba told the MPD Station 5 he saw his passengers dump a big box in the Pasig River at around 3 a.m. Sunday.

Quimba said he picked up the suspects at a condominium along EDSA in Mandaluyong, where Masters was staying, and they told him to bring them to a mall in Ermita.

While in transit, Quimba said his passengers told him to take them to the Pasig River in Baseco “for sight-seeing.” 

Masters’ body was wrapped in duct tape, stuffed in a garbage bag and put in the box, police said.

MPD Station 5’s Superintendent Igmedio Bernaldez ordered the arrest of the two men, who denied their involvement in Masters’ killing and pointed at each other as the culprit.

Bernaldez said Woody and Masters arrived in the country in October upon Islam’s invitation to invest in his business.

 Villaceran, however, said that the victim’s bed was in disarray and there were signs of a struggle.

He said closed-circuit television footage from the condominium and Quimba’s identification are enough to merit the filing of murder charges.