Suspected bodies of missing couple found

MindanaoToday.com | Suspected bodies of missing couple found

By :Christopher Lloyd Caliwan

MANILA – Two police officers on AWOL (absent without official leave) status are being implicated in the disappearance of beauty pageant candidate Geneva Lopez and her Israeli boyfriend.

The development came up after Criminal Investigation and Detection Group agents recovered on Saturday morning two bodies in a remote area in Barangay Sta. Lucia, Capas, Tarlac, believed to be Lopez of Pampanga, 27, and her partner, Yitzhak Cohen, 37.

In a radio interview, Interior and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos said the cadavers are most likely the missing couple.

“Tinitingnan lang namin for autopsy ito ngayon ng NBI (The bodies will undergo autopsy by the National Bureau of Investigation) as requested ng pamilya (by the family),” Abalos said.

Investigators previously said one of the suspects served as middleman in the couple’s supposed purchase of an agricultural land in Capas.

The couple were to meet the still unidentified seller on June 21 but has not been seen since.

The sports utility vehicle they used were later found burnt.

The former officers are already under police custody but there are also other persons of interest, according to Abalos.

“May lumabas nga na mga testigo at tinuro nga itong libingan na ito dito sa Tarlac. Ilalabas na lang namin ang buong detalye siguro mga Lunes. Iniipon pa talaga lahat ito (There are witnesses who pointed to the grave site. We will disclose all details maybe on Monday. We’re still compiling data),” Abalos said.

Abalos emphasized the government’s commitment to justice.

A debtor may have something to do with the killing of Pampanga native Geneva Lopez and his boyfriend Yitzhak Cohen, whose remains were unearthed in Capas, Tarlac early Saturday, revealed the brother of the Israeli.

Beauty pageant candidate Lopez, 27, and Cohen, 37, went missing on June 21 after a supposed meeting in Capas with the seller of an agricultural land.

On Saturday morning, police dug up a quarry and two decomposing bodies were found.

Yaniv Cohen told Israeli news site Ynet last week that his brother loaned money to a man whose mother was sick.

“He never returned the money,” Yaniv said, according to a Ynet story on Saturday.

The man arranged the meeting with Yitzhak, saying he would give him land as payment for the debt.

“From what we understood, it’s another scam that has already happened before. We are discovering that this is not an uncommon occurrence. It’s their way of targeting people who become successful business people,” the brother said.

Yitzhak has been living in Angeles City for seven years and was already planning to marry Lopez, according to Yaniv.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said the Israeli Embassy in Manila, along with the Department for Israelis Abroad, “is providing assistance to the Cohen family in transferring the coffin to Israel.”

Quoting the police, Pampanga Governor Dennis Pineda said the bodies were indeed of the missing couple based on the clothes and belongings found.

“Malungkot ko po na ibinabalita sa inyo na natagpuan na ang mga bangkay ng kabalen natin na si Geneva Lopez at ang kanyang kasintahan na si Yitzhak Cohen sa isang lugar sa Sta. Lucia sa Capas, Tarlac pagkatapos silang mawala ng dalawang Linggo (I am saddened to report that we found the bodies of our very own Geneva Lopez and her boyfriend, Yitzhak Cohen, in Sta. Lucia, Capas, Tarlac, after they went missing for two weeks),” Pineda posted on Facebook.

In a radio interview, Interior and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos said two former police officers are already under custory due to their suspected involvement while other persons of interest have also been identified.

Yaniv remembered his late brother talking to their sister on the day he disappeared but he did not mention anything about the meeting, according to the Ynet story.

He surmised maybe it was because “it wasn’t anything special. He didn’t see any danger in going to this meeting.”

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