Laude planned to marry German BF

Jeffrey Laude, who went by the name Jennifer, was allegedly killed by a Marine in the Philippines. PHOTO BY ALLAN MACATUNO / INQUIRER CENTRAL LUZON

OLONGAPO CITY, Philippines—Jeffrey/Jennifer Laude was planning to marry his German boyfriend of two years.

Laude’s sister Marilou said Laude’s boyfriend heard the news on Sunday morning and told the victim’s relatives that he would arrange for a flight to the Philippines to see his body this week.

Marilou said Laude and his boyfriend had been planning to get married in Thailand soon and were working on their documents to finalize their union. She said Laude and his boyfriend met online.

Aside from his marriage plans, Laude wanted nothing more but to help his family and other relatives whenever they were in need.

“He never turned his back on a relative or a friend who would always run to him for help or for advice,” Marilou said, describing her 26-year-old brother who was found dead inside a hotel in this city on Saturday night.

His death shocked his relatives and friends, who said it was not typical of Laude to meet strangers, especially without his friends knowing it.

A room attendant of Celzone Lodge found Laude inside a bathroom, slumped in the toilet seat at 11:45 p.m., minutes after he and a male foreigner, an American soldier, checked in at the hotel.

Marilou described her brother as a “kindhearted, generous and selfless” person, saying there was not a single instance when her brother refused to help her or anyone in their family.

Another sister, Michelle, said she was with her brother at Ambyanz Disco Bar on Saturday night and did not notice him leave their group.

Hate crime?

Michelle said what the killer did to her brother was “unbearable.”

“He was strangled and … we saw bruises on his face and feet. Those were signs he suffered too much,” she said.

Marilou said what happened to her brother could be a form of hate crime.

“The motive behind this could be that the killer found out that he wasn’t a woman. That’s all what we can think of right now,” she said.

Laude used to work in a local beauty salon but stopped when his boyfriend began to support him financially, Marilou said. She said her brother would even share his money with the family and relatives, keeping only a small amount for himself.

“He used to tell us that no one else would be there to help us except ourselves so he would always make sure that he could help us anyway he could,” Michelle said.

Bobby Snyder, one of the victim’s friends, said Laude once let him stay in his house after he ran away from his parents.

“He made us feel that he was a true friend to all of us and it saddens me that he’s gone,” Snyder said.

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