'Survivor' contestant questioned in Peek slay try probe

MANILA, Philippines - A contestant of television reality show “Survivor” was among seven people questioned by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) on the slay try on Talk N’ Text basketball player Ali Peek.

Filipino-German radio disc jockey “Angelicopter” (real name Angelica Schmeing-Cruz) appeared before the CIDG in Camp Crame yesterday and vehemently denied she has something to do with the attempt on Peek’s life. She also issued a statement clearing her former husband, John Christian Cruz.

Superintendent Danilo Macerin, acting head of the CIDG-National Capital Region (NCR), clarified that Angelicopter is not a suspect in the case. Peek was shot outside the RFM gym along Pioneer street in Mandaluyong last Nov. 7.

“We are taking statements of all the people in the gym so we could have a clear picture of the incident. She is cooperating fully in our investigation and we appreciate her for that,” Macerin said in an interview. CIDG investigators have ruled out robbery as a motive and are eyeing personal grudge and a woman as among the angles they are pursuing.

Angelicopter arrived alone at the CIDG-NCR office at 11 a.m. yesterday and left around two hours later after signing her three-page statement.

Angelicopter said she met Peek in a mall in Metro Manila last June, the same month she and her husband separated. She and John Christian, who was involved in a construction business, were married in 2007. Their two-year-old child is in her custody.

Angelicopter said she and Peek are not involved in any “intimate relationship.” She claimed that during several casual meetings with Peek, the basketball player failed to mention any known enemies.

She said she was at the RFM gym the night Peek was attacked not to watch him practice but to rehearse with her fellow Survivor contestants. Macerin said Angelicopter had already left the gym when a gunman shot Peek in the nape. She told Macerin she only learned of the shooting through text messages.

Macerin said six other people interviewed by the CIDG have issued sworn statements and one of them described the gunman to a police artist.

He said an informant chasing a P500,000 reward offered by Talk N’ Text chairman Manny Pangilinan led them to a man resembling the computer-generated image of the gunman. The CIDG is in the process of gathering witnesses for the identification and arrest of the gunman, Macerin said.