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[av_heading heading=’ DNA test shows slain teen wrongly identified – PNP ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Tuesday. September 12, 2017
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MANILA – Citing DNA test results, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said the body of a teenaged boy found with 30 stab wounds in Nueva Ecija was not that of Reynaldo de Guzman, contrary to his parents’ claim.
But the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) dismissed the PNP’s findings, saying the parents positively identified the 14-year-old and the office’s own analysis led them to conclude that the body was that of the boy.
The DNA sample from the body did not match with samples taken from de Guzman’s parents, PNP deputy director Fernando Mendez Jr. told a news conference on Monday.
“The source of the DNA profile obtained cannot be the biographical offspring of Eduardo Garbrila y Sta. Ana and Lina De Guzman y Dagante,” Mendez said. “Hindi siya si Reynaldo de Guzman.”
“The PNP Crime Laboratory’s DNA Analysis Branch obtained blood and buccal samples from the body and matched it with the parent’s buccal samples, and [they] did not match,” he added.
With this development, the PNP will continue to search for de Guzman and, at the same time, identify the dead body, said Mendez.
Meanwhile, the PAO said the outcome of the DNA test could be “non-conclusive” even if the specimen is “safe,” or free from contamination.
“The parents positively identified the body based on what he was wearing and markings,” said PAO chief Persida Acosta. “Our comparative analysis of de Guzman’s face based on his pictures and that of the recovered body is of the same person [sic].”
De Guzman went missing along with another slain teenager, Carl Angelo Arnaiz, on Aug. 18 after they went out for midnight snacks in their neighborhood in Cainta, Rizal.
The body identified to be de Guzman’s was found on Sept. 5 at the Kinamatayang Kabayo Creek in Barangay San Roque, Gapan, Nueva Ecija.
His family identified the body as de Guzman’s based on the wart on the left knee and the birthmark on the neck./PN
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