Deaths of Filipino, Korean girlfriend a homicide-suicide, say police

MANILA, Philippines—Manila homicide investigators have ruled as a case of homicide and suicide the shooting deaths last month of a 25-year-old man and his Korean girlfriend inside a hotel room in the city.

The conclusion is based on findings released by the Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory from tests conducted on the bodies of  Emmanuel Andrew Rey Monteagudo, of Nagcarlan, Laguna, and 23-year-old Korean Kim Min Jung, which were found last May 24 with multiple bullet wounds in a room on the third floor of Eurotel along Pedro Gil Street in Malate.

Although a paraffin test conducted on the hands of the two victims detected no trace of gunpowder, Police Officer 3 Alonzo Layugan, of the Manila Police District (MPD) homicide section, ruled out the involvement of a third party in the deaths.

He stressed that the hotel room had only the main door to serve as the entrance and exit and that it was locked from the inside. According to the police, the door had a chain, aside from the mechanical lock. This, he said, discounted the possibility that a third person had killed the couple.  Layugan told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the room had no windows and the air vents were too small for a person to fit through.

Layugan said that Monteagudo’s and Kim’s belongings were intact and that there was no sign of a struggle inside the room.

The case investigator likewise emphasized that the position of the victims, who were found lying naked on the bed, with the .25 caliber automatic pistol near Monteagudo’s body also led to the conclusion that the deaths were a homicide and a suicide.  The police believed that the 25-year-old man first shot his girlfriend before turning the gun on himself.

Asked why the victims had multiple bullet wounds in the head and body, Layugan explained that the bullet for a .25 caliber automatic pistol was too small to instantly kill a person.

According to the police report made available to the media, Kim was first shot in the nape, then the left side of the chest, which bore the mark of a muzzle, and then the right side of the stomach.  The police findings added that Monteagudo shot himself at the back of his neck or nape and the right side of his abdomen.

Police could not say why Monteagudo did not shoot himself the usual way suicides using guns do—at the temple of the head, in the mouth or in the heart.

The fatal wound that had killed Monteagudo was caused by the bullet that lodged in his head and then traveled to his brain.  What killed Kim, on the other hand, was the bullet wound she sustained in the left side of the chest.

“Both apparently bled to death from their wounds,” the case investigator told the Inquirer.

During the investigation, Monteagudo’s parents denied knowledge of his relationship with the Korean and his ownership of a handgun. On the other hand, Kim’s sister, Kim Min Sun, claimed that she last saw her sibling on May 22 in Korea and she was told that Monteagudo was a “very jealous person” and that Kim was returning to the Philippines the following day to continue her studies.

She likewise informed police investigators that her family was against her sister’s relationship with Monteagudo.