Suspect in Campbell slay yields but not yet arrested

After more than a week of hiding from authorities, the wood carver suspected of killing US Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell surrendered yesterday and confessed to the crime.

The seemingly remorseful Juan Dontugan apologized for killing Campbell in an interview with ABS-CBN News, claiming that it was unintentional.

"Hindi ko po plano na patayin si Ms. (Julia) Campbell o saktan siya. Inaamin ko. (I did not plan to kill Ms. Julia Campbell or hurt her. I admit [to killing her])," Dontugan said.

Philippine National Police chief Oscar Calderon said police were "documenting his statement in the presence of a lawyer." Murder charges are expected to be filed within four days.

Meantime, the House of Representatives will confer its highest award, the Congressional Medal of Achievement, posthumously on Campbell, Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. said yesterday.

He said the award will be presented to US Peace Corps director Ronald Tschetter and a representative from the Campbell family in ceremonies to be participated in by top US and Philippine officials and held in Manila.

Superintendent Joseph Adnol, Cordillera Regional Office spokesman, said Dontugan was surrendered by his mother Jane to the Ifugao Provincial Police Office at around 3:20 p.m. yesterday.

"He is now under the custody of Ifugao PPO," Adnol said in a text message, though no formal charges have been filed against him yet.

Ifugao police director Senior Superintendent Pedro Ganir who interviewed Dontugan quoted the suspect as saying, "Napalakas lang yung tama. (The blow just hit hard.)"

According to Dontugan, he did not rob or rape Campbell and her death was not intentional. He said prior to the incident, he had a quarrel with somebody and later, bumped into a person, whom he hit with a blunt object. The person turned out to be Campbell.

"My mind went blank," Dontugan said. "I did not know who she was or what she was. I got a rock and I hit her on the head. If I can change my body for hers, I will do it. But that’s not possible. Whatever punishment you will impose on me I will accept it."

Police however said that while it might be true that Dontugan did not intend to kill Campbell, the fact that he buried her in a shallow grave aggravated the crime, which would warrant the filing of charges in court.

Deputy Press Attaché Stacy MacTaggert of the US Embassy in Manila, said the US government is "pleased" with this latest development in the investigation.

"This case is in the hands of the Philippine police and we are pleased with any progress. However, it would be premature to comment further until Philippine authorities have completed their work," MacTaggert told The STAR.

Campbell’s ashes were flown back to Fairfax, Virginia yesterday morning by US Peace Corps Director to Manila Carl Beck.

Dontugan’s surrender would be a breakthrough in the police effort to give justice to Campbell, who was found buried in a shallow grave in Batad, Banaue, Ifugao last April 18, 10 days after she went missing while hiking solo in the breathtaking rice terraces. She was bludgeoned to death with a hard object.

Forensic experts from the PNP have so far failed to find evidence linking Dontugan to the slaying of Campbell because all the pieces of evidence have been contaminated by sunlight and rain.

But Cordillera Regional Police director Chief Superintendent Raul Gonzales said that they would still try to find physical evidence to support the circumstantial evidence, including the testimonies of witnesses who saw Dontugan carrying Campbell’s backpack apparently after the killing.

"The negative result in the forensic examination is like when a person is found negative of powder burns but it does not mean he did not fire a gun," Gonzales explained.

Police are waiting for the result of the autopsy report of Campbell before they could file charges against Dontugan.

PNP Crime Laboratory director Chief Superintendent Arturo Cacdac, however, expressed hope that forensic experts might be able to find "something" from the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) analysis.

"Unfortunately, that’s how it is (no presence of any other set of fingerprints or blood from other person)," said Cacdac. "We are still hoping that the DNA examination will yield something."

Cacdac reported that two sets of analysis – dactyloscopy (study on fingerprints) and serology (study on blood serum) —have been conducted on at least 18 pieces of evidence recovered from the crime scene and from the house of the woodcarver suspect.

"Based on the test we conducted we were not able to lift any latent print from the pieces of evidence taken from the crime scene because the items were exposed to sunlight and rain," said Cacdac as he pointed out the time span from when the crime was committed to the recovery of evidence.

Upon learning of the granting of the posthumous award, the De Venecia, who is again seeking re-election, said the US government and its Peace Corps have "accepted with great gratitude" his initiative. – Pia Lee-Brago, Artemio Dumlao, Charlie Lagasca, Delon Porcalla, Jess Diaz, Rudy Santos, Marijoe Yu, Camille Carnivel, AP, AFP