Australian expert: Vizcondes killed in daylight

MANILA, Philippines - The family of Lauro Vizconde was massacred during the day on June 29, 1991 by perpetrators armed with two weapons, an Australian private investigator told the Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday.

In his 11-page report to Secretary Leila de Lima obtained by The STAR, Christian Faust contested the established belief that Estrellita and daughters Carmela and Jennifer were killed in their house in Parañaque City from late at night on June 29, 1991 to until before dawn the next day.

Faust said he met Lauro and former policeman Gerardo Biong, who was convicted for whitewashing the police probe but acquitted by the Supreme Court in December last year, and secured photographs of the crime scene in coming up with his conclusion.

He said original copies of the photographs were printed on June 29, 1991, which means the massacre could not have occurred late at night.

He took note of the two blinds in the room that were partly drawn and the curtains that were neatly tied up on both sides, “as if to avoid the bright morning light or to prevent evening sunset light from coming in too much.”

Faust said Lauro himself described the clothes of two of the victims as “not clothes they would wear to bed.” He also observed that the blood-soaked clothing seemed to indicate that the wounds were fresh.

He said there was no reddish-brown fluid associated with a body starting to decompose, and this “is inconsistent to that of the medical examiners opinion in regards to the possible time of death.”

Faust explained that a more accurate determination of the time of death “may in itself provide more leads” to the real perpetrators of the crime.

He said there is also a possibility that Estrellita and Carmela were not killed where they were found, as shown by “blood transfer smears on the side of the bed, which were consistent with blood having being transferred from the offenders’ blood-splattered body (and clothes) onto the bed sheets.”

Faust noted that Carmela’s body was found on a rug that had no bloodstains.

He believes that there was an “inadvertent transfer of microscopic evidence,” and suggested that forensic evidence could still be gathered from the crime scene nearly 20 years after it was committed.

He said luminol tests could still reveal blood traces, shoeprints or drag marks on the floor and castoff patterns on the ceiling.

“As the walls have been re-wallpapered this would not be an option,” Faust added.

Search on for murder weapons

The private investigator, who initiated his own probe of the massacre, said he believes there were two murder weapons used by the killers – possibly including a bayonet. He wanted to look for them in a creek near the area of the Vizconde’s residence but was denied permission by local authorities.

Faust submitted no names of the possible killers, but he revealed to The STAR: “In my investigation, these names are always coming up – Michael Gatchalian (one of the previously convicted accused cleared by the SC), Joey Filart (another suspect who remains at large), Lilet Sy (a neighbor of the victims and friend of the accused) and ‘one new name.’”

He also vowed to pursue the identity of the Filipino immigrant in Australia dubbed as “Ms. X,” who claimed that her former husband and his friends belonging to a drug syndicate were involved in the Vizconde massacre.

He said he plans to fly to Sydney in two week’s time to petition the Australian federal courts to appeal last month’s decision of the Refugee Review Tribunal of Australia, which turned down his request to know the woman’s identity.

Faust, who has over 30 years of experience in investigating high-profile crimes worldwide, earlier offered P500,000 as a reward to credible witnesses who could provide information that would lead to the conviction of the real killers.