QC beheadings still a mystery

"Gusto niyang maging seaman, pero pinatay lang siya nang ganoon (He wanted to be a seaman, but they killed him just like that)."

These were the words uttered by the father of 16-year-old Kenneth Wong Asania two days after the boy’s body and those of two other victims, all of them headless, were found sprawled in a grassy vacant lot in a subdivision in Novaliches, Quezon City.

As of press time, investigators have not established the identities of the two other victims and the motive behind the gruesome killings, prompting the Asania family to seek the help of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for the immediate identification and arrest of the killers.

"We need the help of the NBI for the immediate resolution of this matter," Asania’s father Pablo told The STAR.

The elder Asania noted that they themselves have started looking for witnesses who could help them trace and identify the boy’s killers.

He, however, expressed suspicion that his son and the two other victims could have been killed not by teenagers but "older people who were under the influence of prohibited drugs."

Motorists spotted the three headless corpses in a vacant lot in Cresta Verde Subdivision, Barangay Sta. Monica, Novaliches at around 10 p.m. Monday.

Chief Inspector Rodolfo Jaraza, chief of the Central Police District-Criminal Investigation Division (CPD-CID) maintained the police theory that the killings were the handiwork of a fraternity outside the boy’s school.

He based the theory on the statement of Asania’s mother, Eleonor, that the boy refused to join any of the fraternities despite forceful invitation from fraternity members. Kenneth had just graduated with honors from the New Era High School last March.

"The mother even recalled a time when Kenneth was attacked with a ballpen by a fraternity member while the boy was on his way home a few weeks ago. So among other theories, involvement of fraternities in the killings is the strongest, Jaraza stressed.

The CID chief, however, said the five teams he dispatched to Culiat and Tandang Sora, both in Quezon City and Quiapo in Manila to conduct follow-up operations have yet to get positive results.

Jaraza also hinted that the two unidentified victims were out-of-school youths because of the words "Jhun Booba" tatooed on the right side of the body of one of the victims.

"Students in almost all schools are strictly prohibited by school officials from having their bodies tattooed and this school policy bolsters the theory that the two other victims were out-of-school youths," he said.

One of the bodies was described as 18 years old, dark complexioned and about 5’3" tall while the second was about 12 to 15 years old with a slim built.

Jaraza noted the victims could have been killed somewhere else and were only dumped in the subdivision because there was no sign of struggle where the headless bodies were found.

In eight days that the boy was missing, Pablo said they went to Kenneth’s friends and classmates to locate him but their efforts proved futile. "While we were looking for him, his cousins who were close to him dreamed about him shouting for help. It increased our fears."

The search ended only after they went to Prudential Funeral Parlor in Sampaloc, Manila where the three headless bodies were brought.

Pablo said they immediately identified Kenneth at the funeral parlor because of his underwear and the scar on his left foot.