EDITORIAL - Case can't be closed if a part is open

What started as the murder of 17-year-old Karen Kaye Montebon has evolved into a double-murder with the gunslaying of Ruben Fernandez, the primary suspect, and it is premature for the police to declare the Montebon case closed if the Fernandez case remains open. Up to this writing, it still has not been determined who killed the suspect.

And there is the rub. With Fernandez killed, only the testimony of his girlfriend Jenalyn Soon that both of them had visited the home of Montebon on the day she was killed, as well as some items believed stolen from the house, would point to Fernandez as a suspect. Whether that is enough to stand in court remains to be seen. What is clear is that it would have helped if Fernandez himself were alive.

But because he is dead, it would be difficult for anyone to claim with great resolve that the pieces of evidence so far at hand are conclusive. The way they look from a perspective of prudence and strictness, especially with the mysterious death of Fernandez thrown in, would in fact make the case wide open, rather than being closed.

While the Montebon case and the unexpected twist that befell the principal suspect will never be as unforgettable as the assassination of US president John F. Kennedy, they do share certain similarities that gave birth to the endless conspiracy theories responsible for keeping the Kennedy case as alive today as the day it happened on November 22, 1963 in Dallas.

To recall, shortly after JFK was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald, Oswald himself was shot by nightclub owner Jack Ruby. With Oswald dead, it has never been found out why he killed JFK. It has never been found out either why he was killed by Ruby. With such questions left hanging, there can never be any conclusive ending to the story, despite protestations from the authorities that the case is closed.

The same with the Montebon case. It can never truly be considered closed unless Fernandez were alive to own up to the crime. But he is not coming back to life, not just to tell all about Montebon but also to say who did him in. All we know is that the evidence at hand may place Fernandez at the scene of the crime but there is still no showing he actually did what he is being suspected of doing.

Only Fernandez can shed light on that matter and he is dead. So that part of it in the case has to remain open. And if that part of the case is open, then the entire case cannot be declared closed. Not only can the case not be closed, it has in fact been blown wide open with Fernandez himself getting murdered with nobody able to say why or by who.