ILOILO – “Daku ang mga tawo sa likod sang krimen.” Those behind the killing of 36-year-old businesswoman Claire Diergos were no ordinary people, according to Police Major Raymond Celoso, chief of the Santa Barbara municipal police station.
Diergos’ newly-hired house help may have known more than what she has so far disclosed to probers, he added.
The special investigation team Celoso is leading believes the killing was not the handiwork of just one person and that those involved were wily.
“Tama ka tanda ang mga culprits,” Celoso told Panay News.
A special chemical test his team conducted showed that the assailants tried to cover-up their tracks by scrubbing clean the victim’s house at Deca Homes subdivision in Pavia, Iloilo to remove traces of blood and other evidences to mislead cops.
Diergos’ maid, Rodelyn Sumbong of Barangay Cabilauan, Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo, may have been threatened not to say a word, according to Celoso. He did not discount the possibility of the maid becoming a witness.
“She (could be a) credible witness,” Celoso told Panay News.
His team has requested the Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Crame to send specialists to conduct a lie detector test on Sumbong.
“Imposible nga wala sia kabatyag sang nagakalatabo,” Celoso said.
The maid had claimed she slept soundly that Sunday night (Oct. 24) when Diergos was believed to have been attacked in the house.
“Tanan nga motibo gin-accommodate namon, either business-related, her love life or personal grudge,” said Celoso.
Sumbong was hired just that afternoon. She said Diergos, who had a three-year-old daughter, fetched her at the transport terminal in Barangay Tagbak, Jaro, Iloilo City and they had dinner in Oton town before going home to Deca Homes around 8 p.m.
According to Celoso, “smudges” of blood were spotted on the skincare product being used on the child.
“Gindala man ato as part of the evidence. Ang pamangkot: sin-o nagapapaligo sa bata? Timbang lang gid. Dira pa gid nagbaskog akon pagpati,” Celoso said.
But Sumbong was released by the Santa Barbara police after an initial questioning last week. She has returned to Barotac Nuevo.
The Police Regional Office-6’s (PRO-6) crime laboratory will also subject Diergo’s three-year-old daughter to “psychiatric evaluation”, according to Celoso.
The little girl had been behaving strangely, he noted.
“Basi nakita sang bata ang natabo amo ‘na nga may unusual reaction sia,” said Celoso.
BLOOD EVERYWHERE
On Friday night (Oct. 29), Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) conducted a luminol acid test at Diergo’s house.
Blood traces were spotted on the floor, wall, bed, blanket of the three-year-old daughter, table, wall of the comfort room, Diergos’ dressing room, and the cover of the washing machine.
Celoso said it was clear that Diergos was already dead when she was abandoned in her sport utility vehicle in Barangay Inangayan, Santa Barbara early morning on Oct. 25.
“The culprits cleaned the bloodstains kag tanan nga ebedensya para magua nga wala,” said Celoso.
Luminol solution contains both luminol (C8H7N3O2) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The hydrogen peroxide reacts with the iron in the blood to produce oxygen.
How is it used in investigating possible crime scenes?
Forensic scientists spray luminol onto surfaces to detect invisible blood stains. Luminol solution reacts with blood to produce light.
To perform a luminol test, the personnel simply spray the mixture wherever they think blood might be. If hemoglobin and the luminol mixture come in contact, the iron in the hemoglobin accelerates a reaction between the hydrogen peroxide and the luminol.
The SOCO also recovered a backpack containing a shirt and slippers at the back of Diergo’s house. But the police did not consider them as part of the crime scene.
The SOCO confirmed that the blood on the two pillows recovered near the area where Diergo’s vehicle was abandoned in Barangay Inangayan, Santa Barbara was not human but belonged to an unidentified animal.
Diergos’ Montero Sport was seen coming out of Deca Homes at 4:20 a.m. on Oct. 25. She was found dead around 3 p.m. the following day.
The autopsy showed Diergos with multiple stab wounds – two on the neck, five on the left hand and two on the right hand which indicted she fought back.
Police believed robbery was not the motive. No valuables were missing from Diergo’s house, probers said, except for her mobile phone that the assailants mostly likely took away so that investigators wouldn’t know who the victim was in contact with hours before she was killed.
Diergo’s family, however, said she owned pieces of jewelry and these could no longer be found, too./PN
