Campbell slay re-enacted

The Philippine National Police (PNP) will file a case of murder or homicide against the self-confessed killer of US Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell tomorrow after conducting a re-enactment of the crime yesterday.

PNP chief Director General Oscar Calderon said the Ifugao police will file the charges against Juan Dontugan, who surrendered the other day to the local police after more than a week in hiding.

Police with Dontugan re-enacted the killing of Campbell on the site where the crime allegedly took place, in Battad village.

Representatives of the Peace Corps as well as local officials were also present during the re-enactment, which was ongoing as of press time.

Dontugan was supposed to have shown the authorities yesterday where he hid Campbell’s cellular phone, backpack, the stone he used to hit her and other pieces of evidence.

Ifugao province police chief Senior Superintendent Pedro Ganir said the re-enactment is part of the "operational procedure" in police investigations.

Except for an ABS-CBN reporter who helped in Dontugan’s surrender, no other media outlets were allowed to interview the suspect directly.

Before the re-enactment, which started at around 5 p.m. yesterday, Dontugan was subjected to intense interrogation alternately by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and local cops who tried to extract more information on how the crime was committed. Investigators wanted to establish if Dontugan had a companion in the crime.

Obviously dissatisfied with some inconsistencies in his statement during the interrogation, investigators decided to conduct a re-enactment of the incident, which was initially opposed by Dontugan’s lawyer Maribas Habawel, saying that it was already too late in the day to do so.

In his confession, which was documented by the police in the presence of a lawyer, Dontugan said he did not rob or rape Campbell and her death was not intentional.

He told ABS-CBN news that 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." Speculations are rife that his statement might pave the way for a plea of temporary insanity.

Ganir said Dontugan’s television confession was the same as his statement to the investigators.

Ganir said the criminal charges "will, of course, be based on our findings: possibly murder or homicide."

Regional police chief Raul Gonzales said it appeared that the killing was "not premeditated," a key element in a murder charge.

Dontugan said he had thought it was a neighborhood bully, with whom he had a feud that bumped into him, and that he had erupted into a rage.

"He confessed because he was haunted by his conscience," Gonzales said.

The police, with the obvious prodding of Campbell’s colleagues, decided to push through with the re-enactment, believing that they could wring more information out of the woodcarver regarding a possible companion.

Dontugan, 25, looked distraught and seemingly glassy-eyed while he was being led away from the interrogation room to the vehicle which would take him to Battad, Banaue where the re-enactment was conducted. Lagawe is about an hour’s ride to Banaue.

Sources from the provincial police said they would bring Dontugan to Manila to be presented at Camp Crame in Quezon City.

"We are filing the case against him. The case will be filed in Ifugao," Calderon said, adding that the confession of Dontugan bolstered earlier findings that he was indeed the perpetrator of the crime.

The seemingly remorseful Dontugan apologized for killing Campbell, 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.

Campbell went missing on April 8, Easter Sunday, after she went on a sightseeing tour in Banaue by herself.

Her decomposing body was later recovered buried in a shallow grave in Battad. Medico-legal examinations showed that she died from severe traumatic injuries to the head.

Her remains were cremated and her ashes flown back to Fairfax, Virginia Friday morning by US Peace Corps director to Manila Carl Beck. – With AP, Jaime Laude and Artemio Dumlao