BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Policemen of La Carlota City in Negros Occidental released yesterday the initial “post-mortem” findings on the remains of Juliet Mercader showing she had a total of four gunshot wounds in the head.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Joenel Guadalupe, La Carlota City police chief, said two of these were “exit wounds”, thus the assassins likely shot Mercader twice in the head.
Juliet was the wife of Cebu-based suspected drug lord Jinnefer Mercader who was killed in a police operation in Murcia, Negros Occidental last month. She was found dead in a sugarcane field in Barangay San Miguel, La Carlota City days after his husband’s fatal shootout with authorities.
Guadalupe said Mercader was likely not murdered where her body was found – a shallow grave in Barangay San Miguel.
He also dismissed the angle that Mercader was a victim of robbery since her personal belongings, which included jewelry and a gold watch, were still in her possession.
Police believed the killing was connected to illegal drugs.
According to Guadulupe, they are currently waiting for permission from Juliet’’s family if they should carry out further examination of the victim’s remains, which would determine if she was sexually assaulted prior to her death.
Meanwhile, investigators also revealed that hours prior to being murdered, Mercader was last seen with a woman and three men in a bathing area.
Murcia town police also determined that prior to the antidrug operation, which led to the death of Jinnefer in Murcia’s Barangay Minoyan, Juliet was spotted walking alongside another wanted individual whom they declined to identify for the time being./PN
