Nida’s aide flunks lie-detector test at NBI

A long-time aide of slain actress Nida Blanca has flunked a second lie-detector test at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) headquarters in Manila, leading investigators to believe the witness is starting to crack.

Elena de la Paz, Blanca’s aide for 42 years, seemed tense during the polygraph test administered yesterday, an NBI source said.

"She flunked the second test and seems ready to crack," the source said. "De la Paz is showing signs that she is ready to cooperate."

Blanca’s aide was first subjected to a polygraph test last Tuesday and passed. Investigators insisted on a second test after several inconsistencies were noted between her answers and those found in a sworn affidavit.

Ricardo Diaz, NBI spokesman in the Blanca case, believes De la Paz knows more than what she has revealed. She was grilled from 8 p.m. Friday until 3 a.m. Saturday.

"Elena has a lot of things to tell us. We think she knows the killers and is trying to hide the truth," Diaz said.

He said the witness was especially tense when investigators questioned her about an interview she gave dzAR reporter Red Cruz on Nov. 17 – the day Blanca was murdered. The reporter, according to the NBI, is De la Paz’s grandson.

"She was pale and speechless. At first, she couldn’t recall having a relative working as a reporter. But after some time, she remembered," Diaz said in an interview over dzAR Angel Radyo yesterday.

The NBI said De la Paz insisted she only confirmed Blanca’s death and gave no other details to the reporter.

But according to the reporter, De la Paz told him over the cell phone that Blanca was mauled and stabbed dead by two men at the parking lot of the Atlanta Centre between 3 a.m. to 4 a.m.

The NBI said the radio reporter filed his story before 8:25 a.m.

Diaz said the manner by which the actress was killed could not have been known at that time since police did not examine the crime scene until 9 a.m.

No test yet for Strunk

The NBI said a polygraph test for Blanca’s husband, Rod Lauren Strunk, scheduled for yesterday has been reset for Wednesday on request of his lawyers.

Investigators have asked Strunk to take the test after a 13-hour grilling last Wednesday revealed several inconsistencies with his earlier statements.

Diaz said there were several instances during the questioning when the American appeared too defensive.

"He needs to undergo a lie detector test because his defensiveness may mean a lot of things," he said.

Diaz said they will also be coordinating with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation after new pieces of evidence were discovered at the crime scene.

He said they were able to establish that the weapon used was not a paring knife but a Swiss army knife. Investigators also said Blanca was stabbed three times in the armpit with the tip of an umbrella.

In another development, investigators will now focus on a third person close to the slain actress.

Diaz said Candelaria Tantoco, Blanca’s confidante for more than 30 years, has been reluctant to go to the NBI to shed light on the murder.

"She has been a friend of Nida Blanca for 30 years, why is she reluctant to cooperate? Up to now, she has refused to undergo a lie detector test," he said.

Blanca, Dorothy Jones in real life, was killed at the sixth floor parking lot of the Atlanta Centre in Greenhills, San Juan where she worked as a director of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board.

The PNP filed a murder case against Philip Medel and an alleged accomplice identified as Mike Martinez, and a parricide charge against Strunk as an offshoot of Medel’s admission of the crime.

Medel, in a 10-page handwritten confession submitted to the PNP criminal investigation and detection group, admitted having taken part in the slaying of Blanca.

The suspect tagged Strunk as the mastermind of the slay plot.

However, Medel, in an outburst of emotion, recanted during a preliminary investigation of the case, claiming he was kidnapped and tortured by the police to admit the crime.