Prints in Nida’s car identified

Police investigators have started matching latent fingerprints lifted from the car of slain movie actress Nida Blanca with those of witnesses who volunteered to have their finger and palm prints taken.

Senior Superintendent Leonardo Espina, spokesman of Task Force Marsha which is spearheading the probe, said the investigators were able to lift 24 latent prints from the car.

Espina said 15 of the 24 prints did not match any of those taken from the witnesses.

Among those that matched was that of Blanca’s personal driver, Antonio Borja, but police indicated it could be insignificant since Borja had "natural access" to the actress’ car.

Espina declined to reveal the names of the persons whose fingerprints were among those taken from the vehicle, a green Nissan Sentra Super Saloon.

"The lifted fingerprints would strongly corroborate the evidence against the suspects," Espina said. He did not elaborate.

Instead, he appealed to the public to give the investigators more time to wrap up the case.

Police officials and task force leaders have been avoiding reporters over the past days, saying premature leakage of information could jeopardize the investigation.

National Bureau of Investigation Director Reynaldo Wycoco said earlier they may be able to solve Blanca’s murder within the week.

"We expect a positive development in the case by Thursday or Friday. It could mean the solution of the case," Wycoco said without elaborating.

Camp Crame officials have also been deliberately uncommunicative about the investigation amid rumors that they are following a hot lead.

They were mum on a report by a national radio network that an unidentified witness has surfaced claiming he saw four people transferring the body of Blanca – Dorothy Jones in real life – from a van to her car parked on the sixth floor parking lot of the Atlanta Centre in Greenhills, San Juan between 2 and 3 a.m. of Nov. 7.

This appeared to corroborate a statement by Rod Lauren Strunk, Blanca’s Australian-born husband of 22 years, that she was not in her car when he inspected it at about 2 a.m. of the same day.

Lauren told investigators that he went to the Atlanta Centre where Blanca also worked as a member of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) located at the 33rd floor of the building.

The witness said he was about to leave when he noticed a red Toyota Tamaraw FX with license plates UFM-371 parked beside Blanca’s green Nissan Sentra car.

The actress’ lifeless body was found at about 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 7 at the backseat of her car with 13 stab wounds, mostly superficial.

The nature of the wounds led forensic experts to theorize that the killers could be female, with one of them stabbing Blanca with an army knife while the accomplices held the victim’s arms.

Blanca had five stab wounds in the left cheek, five in the left armpit, two at the back and one below the left ear. A stab that hit the jugular and another that pierced her larynx proved fatal, the medico-legal expert said.

Espina said the investigators were still tracing the victim’s activities on the night of the murder.

"Our investigators and researchers are carefully analyzing every minute detail," Espina said.

The probers have reportedly interrogated over 20 witnesses, but said only a handful of them appeared to be credible.

"Some even relied on hearsay," police said.

The investigators were also going to review the master tape taken by the surveillance camera installed at the Filipino Casino in Parañaque City where Blanca reportedly proceeded after work on the night of Nov. 6.

Task Force Marsha assailed the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), operator of the casino, for submitting edited footage that showed only the hands of the players.

Pagcor employees who were interviewed appeared to have rehearsed their testimonies by giving "chorus-like" statements saying they did not see Blanca at the casino on the eve of her death.

Police said they have focused their investigation on the "personal grudge" angle, but declined to elaborate.