Persons of interest in missing pageant candidate identified

MANILA, Philippines — Police have identified persons of interest in the disappearance of a beauty pageant candidate and her Israeli partner who were last seen in Pampanga.

Col. Jean Fajardo, public information officer of the Philippine National Police (PNP), refused to give details about these people who could shed light on the case of Geneva Lopez, 27, and her partner, Yitshak Cohen, 37.

Relatives reported Lopez and Cohen missing on June 22, a day after the couple bade them goodbye to go to Tarlac.

“We cannot yet disclose additional information, but we have identified persons of interest in the case,” Fajardo said in a news briefing at Camp Crame yesterday.

She gave assurance that probers are pursuing “very good leads” in the case.

The PNP has formed a special investigation task group to conduct a deeper probe into the couple’s disappearance.

The task group is composed of officers of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Highway Patrol Group and Anti-Cybercrime Group.

Lopez and Cohen, who reside in Barangay Malabanias in Angeles City, went to Capas, Tarlac to check a piece of property they intended to buy.

The couple’s vehicle was found abandoned and burned in a village in Capas.

Fajardo said a dismissed police officer who served as a middleman in the transaction admitted that he accompanied Lopez and Cohen in Tarlac.

Fajardo said the middleman executed an affidavit, stating that he and the couple went their separate ways after visiting the property.

She said she could not reveal other details so as not to compromise the ongoing investigation.