PHILIPPINES: Filipino charged with U.S. volunteer's murder says he mistook her for neighbour

Record ID: 349405

  • Title: PHILIPPINES: Filipino charged with U.S. volunteer's murder says he mistook her for neighbour
  • Date: 30th April 2007
  • Summary: PHOTO OF WEAPONS ALLEGEDLY USED BY SUSPECT POLICE OFFICER SHOWING PHOTO OF WEAPONS
  • Embargoed: 15th May 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Philippines
  • Country: Philippines
  • Reuters ID: LVABWOGRR13WQELEPGOFUS8NN6NF
  • Story Text: The man charged with killing U.S. Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell in a remote area of the Philippines was presented by the police to the media on Monday (April 30, 2007).
    Woodcarver Juan Donald Duntugan, 25, was charged with murder after confessing that he killed Campbell after mistaking her for a neighbour with whom he had a feud.
    National police chief Oscar Calderon told reporters: "According to him, he hit Miss Campbell in the head with a rock, dragged the victim into a ditch then hit her several times more with a piece of firewood before covering the body with dirt. But we are not taking his statement hook, line and sinker."
    Police in Ifugao province, where Campbell's body was found, sent a complaint to the prosecutor's office on Sunday (April 29), before the suspect was brought to Manila for further tests and questioning. Provincial prosecutors have a few days to evaluate the complaint before filing formal charges in local courts.
    Calderon said investigators would check Duntugan's written confession with the evidence they have recovered, including a piece of bloodstained firewood, his shirt and cap, and Campbell's notebook and personal belongings.
    He said police were confident the evidence would be enough to try Duntugan for the death of the 40-year-old volunteer from Fairfax, Virginia. Campbell was killed two weeks before completing a two-year assignment with the Peace Corps in the central Philippines.
    Duntugan denied robbing or molesting Campbell, a former freelance journalist who went missing on April 8 while trekking near Banaue, a mountain town famed for its ancient rice terraces, about 260 km (160 miles) north of Manila.
    "During the interview, he said 'Sir, my conscience bothered me that's why I surrendered.' His emotions could not take it any more, because he is not a criminal, he does not possess the mind of a criminal," Calderon said.
    Soldiers found Campbell's body on April 18 in a shallow grave near a creek in a village called Batad, where Duntugan worked as a woodcarver.
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