After 19 years in jail, 'chop-chop' lady killer deported to US

After spending more than 19 years in jail, an American linked to the gruesome chop-chop lady case in the 1990s was finally deported Feb. 28, the Bureau of Immigration said.

 

Deported was Stephen Mark Whisenhunt, who was convicted for killing and mutilating Elsa Castillo in 1993, Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. said in a statement issued Monday.

 

“We have placed him in our blacklist so he could no longer return to the Philippines. His involvement in a gruesome crime makes him a very undesirable alien who should not be allowed to re-enter our country,” David said.

 

He said Whisenhunt "boarded a Philippine Airlines flight to Los Angeles, California last Feb. 28, two months after he was released from the National Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City."

 

The same Immigration statement said Whisenhunt had been sentenced to life imprisonment in 1993 but his jail term was commuted for good conduct while in prison.

 

The BI said Whisenhunt was released from Bilibid last Dec. 27 and "was turned over to the BI to facilitate his deportation to the United States."

 

"Under the law, foreigners convicted of crimes shall, after service of sentence, be deported to their country of origin and banned from re-entering the Philippines," the BI said.

 

Chop-chop lady case

 

An investigation had shown Castillo was fatally stabbed to death by Whisenhunt inside a condominium in Greenhills, San Juan City on Sept. 24, 1993.

 

Whisenhunt's driver Demetrio Ravelo then testified that the American mutilated Castillo's body and dumped the parts along a road in Bagac, Bataan.

 

"Castillo met Whisenhunt when she worked as assistant personnel manager of the Apex Motor Corp. Both were married but were estranged from their spouses," the Immigration statement said.

 

The Immigration statement said Whisenhunt’s lawyers "have long sought his release from detention, citing alleged errors committed by the Board of Pardons and Parole in computing the time he served in prison." — RSJ, GMA News