Suspect in Ruby Rose Barrameda killing in NBI custody

Published November 8, 2012 1:49pm

(Updated 2:50 p.m.) A suspect in the killing of Ruby Rose Barrameda, sister of actress Rochelle Barrameda, is now in the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation.

NBI agents served an arrest warrant on suspect Robert Ponce in Cauayan in Isabela province, radio dzBB's Carlo Mateo reported.

The NBI agents brought Ponce to the NBI headquarters in Manila, the same radio report said.

“The arrest of Ponce was a result of a series of surveillance and undercover operations that the bureau carried out in Isabela after we had received an information a couple of months ago that he was spotted in the said province,” said NBI-Special Task Forces chief Roland Argabioso.

Ponce is the subject of an arrest warrant for his alleged participation in the killing of Ruby Rose. One of the alleged killers, Manuel Montero, surfaced and admitted his participation in the crime and linked Ponce.

Citing initial information, Argabioso said Ponce went into hiding in Isabela after being implicated in the killing. The NBI official said the suspect used the alias "Alex Peralta" to evade arrest. NBI agents however took stolen shots of Ponce and showed to Montero the photographs for possible identification. “The photographs of the suspect were shown to Montero and the witness said the man in the photograph, who was known in Isabela as Alex Peralta, and Ponce are the same,” Argabioso said. Ponce was arrested inside his house at around 3 p.m. of Wednesday at Barangay Naganacan, Argabioso said.

Ruby Rose was reported missing in March 2007. Her body was recovered after Montero surfaced.

The body was stuffed inside a cemented drum dropped off Navotas City.

Montero also linked Manuel Jimenez II, his son Lope, Eric Fernandez, Spike Discalzo, and Rudy dela Cruz to the killing. In February this year, the Court of Appeals stopped the trial after it ruled in favor of the petition by Manuel Jimenez, the victim's father-in-law, sought the inhibition of the judge handling the case. — with a report by Mark D. Merueñas /RSJ/LBG, GMA News

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