Woman in trash bag was tortured, strangled

A dead woman found stuffed inside a trash bag in a house in Valle Verde 3 in Pasig appeared to have been strangled and her body bore torture marks, police said yesterday.

Eastern Police District (EPD) director Chief Superintendent Leon Nilo de la Cruz said more than one person could be responsible for the death of Shahani Imran Maungco, 22, who died of suffocation.

Superintendent Emmanuel Aranas, EPD Scene of the Crime Operatives chief, who examined Maungco’s body, said Maungco could have been unconscious when she was placed inside a black trash bag.

Aranas said Maungco was killed somewhere else and her body placed inside a trash bag, carried and stuffed inside the stockroom.

Aranas forwarded his report yesterday to Superintendent Eduardo Villena, EPD district investigation and detective management division chief.

Villena said housemaid Grace Libuna could have witnessed or participated in killing Maungco. Libuna left her employer’s residence at Valle Verde 3 in Pasig before the family driver discovered Maungco’s body two Saturdays ago.

Police have taken the passports of the suspects, South Africans Christo Daniels and Ronald Terense, to prevent them from leaving the country.

Daniels is a live-in partner of Maungco.

Both Daniels and Terense issued a general denial on Maungco’s death.

Maungco’s mother, Sharifa, claimed that the last time her daughter called her up was on Oct. 15. – Non Alquitran