Manhunt on for suspect in slay of Frenchman, wife, son in Palawan

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY—Police have started a manhunt this week for a business partner of a French-Italian expatriate found dead with his Filipino wife and four-year-old son in Narra town in Palawan province last week.

A source in the intelligence community in the province, who asked not to be identified for lack of authority to speak to reporters, told the INQUIRER that investigators have narrowed down the probe to a business partner of Jean Marc Messina. The source, however, declined to name the suspect, who is also based in Palawan, while lawmen are pursuing him.

The source said the killing may be related to a failed business transaction between the victim and his partner.

“He (Messina) was apparently double-crossed by his partner in a trucking business they were engaged in,” the source said.

The victim and his partner were reportedly engaged in providing trucking services to a mining company operating in Quezon town.

READ: French, Filipina, son found dead inside parked vehicle in Palawan

Messina, 54, his wife Jewel and their son Gio were abandoned by their killers inside their pickup truck, which was parked by the roadside in the southern town of Narra.

Residents there found the bodies, already in an early stage of decomposition, on Jan. 29, leading investigators to believe that they were killed about three days earlier. The victims had bullet wounds in the head. CDG