Swede robbed, stabbed dead

CABARROGUIS, Quirino – A Swedish national who was in the country to meet the family of his soon-to-be Filipina wife was robbed and stabbed dead here last Monday morning, authorities said.

The victim, identified as Ole Magnus Ottosen, 58, of Kvindinge, Sweden, was declared dead on arrival at the provincial hospital here after sustaining at least 18 stab wounds.

Investigation showed that Ottosen, who arrived here with his girlfriend, Michelle Ines, 25, last Sept. 12, was drinking liquor at his fiancée’s family residence when a ski-mask-wearing man suddenly appeared and demanded his luggage that reportedly contained $20,000 and more than P30,000 in cash as well as personal belongings, with a total value of about P1 million.

Ottosen reportedly put up a fight until his attacker stabbed him after a brief scuffle while his girlfriend and mother-in-law-to-be looked on helplessly.

Reports said the incident took place almost an hour after Ottosen and his fiancée’s relatives and neighbors had gone home following a drinking session until the wee hours of the morning in Ines’ family residence in Barangay Gundaway here, leaving him, his fiancée and her mother by themselves.

Ottosen, a reefer fish truck operator, and Ines, a sales clerk in a computer shop in Malate, Manila, met on the Internet. They arrived here Sept. 12 to discuss their plans to marry with her parents.

Senior Superintendent Romualdo Zingapan, provincial police director, has formed a multi-agency task force to go after Ottosen’s killer.

Zingapan said they have a number of suspects but are still gathering more evidence.