Task group formed on Davantes slay

MANILA, Philippines - Police have formed a special task group of investigators that would prioritize the search for the missing car of slain advertising executive Kristelle Davantes.

Probers hope the car would provide leads on the suspects in her brutal killing last Saturday.

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Chief Superintendent Marcelo Garbo Jr. created yesterday Task Group Davantes headed by Chief Superintendent Christopher Laxa, NCRPO’s deputy chief for operation, to speed up the solution of the case.

The task group would be composed of elements of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), intelligence group, Highway Patrol Group, Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory and other police units in Metro Manila and the Silang police in Cavite.

Garbo met with Laxa and other members of the task group regarding the developments in their investigation on the Davantes case.

He said that the recovery of the victim’s car – a silver Toyota Altis with license plates PIM 966 – would provide investigators the evidence that would help them identify the killer or killers.

“The car would surely yield lots of leads that would most likely help us solve the case,” said Garbo.

Garbo admitted they have not as yet determined the motive behind the killing of Davantes, a 25-year-old advertising executive whose body was found under a bridge in Barangay Sabutan, Silang, Cavite last Saturday.

The victim was a senior account manager of McCann Worldgroup Philippines Inc. at Bonifacio Global City.

Investigators said Davantes was found with a knife wound in the neck, her mouth stuffed with a handkerchief, and her hands tied with the seatbelt of her car.

Garbo said that all angles are being looked into by the police.

“We are talking to her boyfriend and other co-workers who were with her before she was found dead,” said Garbo, adding that they are reconstructing the last hours of Davantes with the aid of closed-circuit television cameras not only in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City but also those deployed at the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX).

Davantes was last seen alive with three friends, including her boyfriend, driving a silver 2011 Altis from the parking lot near her office past 1 a.m. on Saturday or five hours before she turned up dead under the Tibagan Bridge. – Cecille Suerte Felipe