New witness places Medel at Nida Blanca crime scene - NBI

A new witness saw Philip Medel Jr., the confessed killer of Nida Blanca who later retracted his statement, at the crime scene minutes after police found the body of the veteran actress, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said yesterday.

Lawyer Ricardo Diaz, NBI spokesman, said he cannot yet identify the star witness but that he could be a security guard who was on duty at the sixth floor parking lot of the Atlanta Centre in Greenhills, San Juan on Nov. 7 last year, the day Blanca was murdered.

"When Blanca’s body was found and a commotion broke out, Medel was still at the crime scene," he said.

Diaz said the NBI is working to make the case against Medel airtight so they could pin him down for Blanca’s murder, despite his retraction.

"So the case (against Medel) is getting stronger," he said.

The testimony of the new witness could strengthen the government’s case against Medel, Diaz added.

Blanca, Dorothy Jones in real life, was found dead with multiple stab wounds in the body on the back seat of her car at the sixth floor parking lot.

Earlier, Leonilo Gonzaga, Medel’s roommate, told the NBI that the 54-year-old former military intelligence agent asked him last year to help him find a hit man.

Last July 17, the NBI charged Medel and two unidentified suspects with murder at the Quezon City prosecutor’s office.

Blanca’s husband, Rod Strunk, who is in the United States, was charged with parricide.

Three security guards of Atlanta Centre –Ricky Alvarez, Roberto Canete and Diolito Molines –were charged with obstruction of justice.

Medel apparently surrendered to police on Nov. 18 last year and confessed to Blanca’s murder because he claimed his conscience was bothering him.

In his handwritten affidavit, Medel said: "I was so devastated (by) that incident, I never had a sound sleep. My conscience was immeasurably bothered." –Mike Frialde