3 people, including Australian couple, found dead in Tagaytay hotel

The bodies of three people, including an Australian couple, were found inside a hotel in Tagaytay, according to police on Wednesday.

In Glen Juego’s flash report in dzBB on Thursday, Cavite Provincial Police Office Director P/Colonel Eleuterio Ricardo, Jr. said the incident was reported to them on Wednesday afternoon.

The persons were identified as an Australian man, his Filipina- Australian wife and his Filipina daughter-in-law.

In Jaime Santos’ report in 24 Oras, a staff of the hotel who went to their room to inform them of their checkout found the victims with their hands and feet tied with electrical cord and shoelaces. Their mouths were also covered with tape, the report added. 

The report also said that CCTV footage from the hotel showed a possible suspect, a man caught leaving the victims’ room who went straight to the exit. 

Tagaytay Mayor Abraham Tolentino called for immediate action by the police or else some officers might be relieved from their posts. 

“I’m requesting the provincial and regional [police] to step in and create a task force [...] Within a week, kailangan maganda ang progress report or else relieved muna ang chief of police ng Tagaytay,” he said. 

(I’m requesting the provincial and regional police to step in and create a task force [...] Within a week, we need to have a positive progress report or else we will have to relieve the chief of police of Tagaytay.)

According to Ricardo, they are still waiting for the final report of the Scene of the Crime Operations (SOCO) team regarding the possible cause of the deaths. 

Meanwhile, Tagaytay City Police chief P/Lieutenant Col. Charles Capagcuan said that they are looking into possible motives behind the crime, but they cannot disclose these due to the ongoing investigation and search for the suspect. 

The report also said the bodies of the two Filipino victims will be brought to Mindoro, while the Australian man’s body will be turned over to the Australian Embassy.—Vince Angelo Ferreras/RF, GMA Integrated News