Arrested suspect in Mabel Cama rape-slay initially considered as witness —police

The arrested suspect in the rape-slay of Mabel Tagala Cama was initially considered as a witness, police said Monday.

National Capigal Region Police Office chief Director Oscar Albayalde said that from being a considered as a witness, 40-year-old driver Randy Oavenada's was included in the list of persons of interest for giving inconsistent testimony to police investigators.

Oavenada was then arrested after the latent prints lifted from Cama's cellphone matched his fingerprints.

“According to the result of the dactyloscopy examination made by the Eastern Police District-Crime Laboratory on the on the persons of interest and scene of the crime, of the lifted latent prints found in the cellphone of Mabel Cama matched with the standard fingerprints of Randy Oavenada while other latent prints owned by the possible cohorts of the suspect were still subjected for examination,” Albayalde said in a press conference.

The regional police chief added that the suspect had also tested positive for shabu.

Senior Superintendent Orlando Yebra Jr., Pasig City police chief, said Oavenada was invited for questioning after the discovery of Cama's body.

“Isama po siya sa mga tinanong noon at nagsabi na may nakita siyang dalawang lalaki na kausap ni Mabel at siya rin daw ang nakakita doon sa isang lalaking may hawak ng karton na parang gagamitin sa pangsunog,” he said in a text message to GMA News Online.

“The day na madiscover ang victim nakausap na namin siya,” he added.

Police have filed a complaint of rape with homicide against Oavenada.

More than one

Meanwhile, police said they have also found another fingerprint on the linoleum found near Cama's body, which indicates that more than one person were involved in the gruesome crime.

Superintendent Isidro Cariño of Eastern Police District's Crime Laboratory said they are still trying to determine the identities of the fingerprints' owners.

Police said that the linoleum could have been used by Cama's killers to cover her body while being burned.

Cama, a 23-year-old bank employee, was found dead in an impounding area of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority in Pasig City last week. Police said the victim was raped and killed and then her body was burned by her assailants.

Yebra said they have yet to get eyewitness accounts on the gruesome crime and investigators are only relying on forensic results in identifying Cama's attackers and in determining how the crime was actually carried out.

Yebra also said police have failed to obtain CCTV camera recordings of the crime.

“Kaya walang makapagsabi exactly what really happened from the time na siya ay nakatayo sa harap ng gate until such time na ma-discover siya sa crime scene," he said.

Albayalde, however, said they are confident that forensic results are more than enough to pin down Oavenada.

“Unang una ‘yung forensic is a scientific evidence, mas malakas 'yan kesa sa testimonial evidence. These are forensic evidence based on physical evidence na na-lift doon sa crime scene kaya matibay na ebidensya itong forensic and it will be covered by expert opinion pagdating sa korte,” he said. —ALG, GMA News