Slain model was raped – report

MANILA, Philippines - A medico-legal report confirms claims by two suspects that model Julie Ann Rodelas was raped before she was shot dead, police said yesterday.

Suspects Jeymar Waradje and Althea Altamirano, a fellow model and Rodelas’ friend, earlier stated that the victim had been raped. The STAR earlier reported about Waradje’s affidavit, in which he said Rodelas was raped twice – first allegedly by suspect Efren Talib and next by an alias Aldos.

Quezon City Police District (QCPD) director Chief Superintendent Mario dela Vega said this would be the basis for filing rape charges against Talib and Aldos.

Senior Superintendent Neri Ilagan, QCPD deputy director for operations, quoted the medico-legal report as stating that there were “lacerations” in the victim’s genitals. “This showed that the victim had indeed been raped before she was killed,” Ilagan said in an interview.

On Monday, Altamirano and her boyfriend, Fernando Quiambao Jr., were charged with murder. Ilagan said they could file a supplemental complaint for rape before the fiscal.

Dela Vega said both Talib and Aldos, who remain at large, are now the subject of manhunt operations by tracker teams formed by the QCPD. Ilagan said the other suspects in the case, could also be charged for being “accessories” in the rape.

Chief Inspector Rodel Marcelo, head of the QCPD’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, said the abduction of Rodelas was supposedly to “teach her a lesson” for spreading word about Altamirano’s already having children. Altamirano had said she never thought the abduction would lead to the killing of the victim.

Citing Waradje’s affidavit, Marcelo said the suspects blew their cover when Waradje mentioned Quiambao’s name, prompting Rodelas to identify him. Police officials had theorized that the decision to kill the victim was reached after this.

A receipt found in the possession of the victim after she was found dumped in Cubao, bleeding from gunshot wounds, was what led policemen to Quiambao. Surveillance camera footage of Quiambao was shown to the staff of a fastfood restaurant, who confirmed it was the suspect who bought the burger meal indicated in the receipt.