It will take some time for the results of the DNA cross-matching examination of samples taken from the cadaver of the unidentified man and his father before the Catanduanes police can confirm that the body is that of 19-year-old Sonny Boy Tuquero.
This was clarified by the Catanduanes Police Provincial Forensic Unit last week shortly after its team exhumed and examined the cadaver of the unidentified man, believed to be a victim of extrajudicial killing, in Caramoran.
In the shade of leafy trees at a corner of the Inalmasinan public cemetery last July 14, 2024, the team, assisted by barangay residents, dug up the body of the man whose trussed-up body and tape-wrapped head was found by several boys below the Panabananon bridge seven days earlier.
The team, together with Medico-Legal Officer PMaj. Michelle Estolatan, secured a DNA sample from the body for cross-matching examination in Camp Crame together with the sample swabbed from Jose Tuquero Jr., the Palnab resident who claims the dead man is his son Sonny Boy Tuquero, 19.
Two days after the body was found, Tuquero went to the Virac police station and claimed that he recognized the blue Pokemon Go shirt worn by the dead man as that of his son as it belonged to his wife.
The day after the exhumation, case investigator PCpl. Daryl Barrameda went to the Tuquero residence and showed him several pieces of personal belongings recovered from the cadaver.
The necklace, wristwatch and ring found on the body were positively identified by Jun Tuquero as owned by his son.
As of press time, the Catanduanes police has yet to report on the progress of its investigation into the suspicious death.
The Tribune has learned that the young Tuquero was the respondent in a complaint for robbery that was filed by the Virac police with the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office last May 20.
No details were provided about the robbery which allegedly occurred at 2 AM of April 23 in barangay Rawis, with an unidentified woman as the victim.