By Jennifer P. Rendon
Riding-in-tandem suspects gunned down a woman early morning of June 6, 2022 in City Proper district, Iloilo City.
Apple Jane Castillo, 28, a resident of Guimbal Iloilo, was standing on the roadside at corner Ledesma-Valeria Streets in Barangay Ed Ganzon, City Proper when motorcycle-riding suspects shot her.
Castillo was with her Alpha Kappa Rho fraternity-sorority brother, Aladin Baldeviso and Patrice Ann. But the gunmen left them physically unharmed.
The victim and Patrice Ann were alleged prostituted women, police reports indicated.
Baldeviso said he saw the two suspects pass by in front of them while they were talking. The suspects then drove back to their location.
Baldeviso claimed that the backrider even fell off the vehicle. But he managed to get up immediately, walked near the victim, and pumped a bullet on the victim’s head.
The suspects immediately sped off while the victim was initially taken to St. Paul’s Hospital and later transferred to West Visayas State University where she was proclaimed dead on arrival.
Baldeviso claimed he was not aware of any person who might harm Castillo.
He added they went to a friend’s birthday party earlier that day.
Castillo went to her boarding house at Barangay Magdalo, La Paz, to take a nap before proceeding to the area where she was killed.
MOTIVES
Major Shella Mae Sangrines, Iloilo City Police Station 1, said they’re looking at two possible angles behind Castillo’s killing.
“Evidence pointed to illegal drugs and revenge as the likely motives of the killing,” Sangrines said.
In 2015, the victim was arrested for allegedly visiting a drug den.
Three years later, she was released from incarceration after a plea-bargaining agreement.
The vengeance angle came out after police learned from the victim’s friends that she personally knew Jezzel Macogue, 20, and her mother, Maria Luisa Sevilla, 46, both residents of Barangay Nazarreth, Buenavista, Guimaras.
The mother-and-daughter tandem were arrested in a drug buy-bust operation shortly on June 2 in Arevalo, Iloilo City.
Just like Castillo, Macogue was believed to be a prostituted woman while Sevilla was a pimp.
“We have received reports that Macogue and Sevilla’s camp was suspecting Castillo as the person behind their arrest,” Sangrines said.
Police investigators also learned that Castillo and Sevilla have been together when they were imprisoned at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) female dormitory in Iloilo City.
“They might have established a connection and network when they were still in jail,” Sangrines said.
But Sangrines said investigators are still gathering more evidence and testimonies to back up such claims.
“We have already leads and we’re hoping to solve this case soon,” she said.
