Julia Campbell bludgeoned to death – PNP autopsy reveals

By AMITA LEGASPI, GMANews.TV

A police autopsy confirmed Saturday that the body found buried in a shallow grave in Batad village, Banaue, Ifugao, was that of US Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell and further tests concluded that the woman was bludgeoned to death. Radio station dzBB reported that the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory completed the medico-legal examination on the body around 3 pm at the Loyola Memorial Chapels and medical examiners released the cadaver to the US Peace Corps members with the assistance of the US Embassy. The Peace Corps decided to bring the cadaver to the Rizal Funeral Homes in Pasay City. “We have officially lost jurisdiction over the cadaver," Chief Insp. Roberto Bernabe of the PNP Crime Laboratory said. He said doctors identified Campbell through teeth examination, saying the volunteer's dental records matched 100 percent with that of the cadaver. Bernabe told reporters that Campbell sustained multiple traumatic injuries to the head, which was the main cause of her death. They cannot directly say if the slain volunteer was raped but they are not ruling out the possibility. “We’re not ruling out the possibility of rape," he said. There were also no evidence of strangulation and torture. Campbell whose body was found buried in a shallow grave in Batad village in Banaue was earlier believed to have been bludgeoned and a manhunt for a suspect has been launched. Campbell's body was found Wednesday, 10 days after she went missing during a solo hike in the village of Batad in Banaue township to see the area's famed mountainside rice terraces. "We have found a piece of wood in the vicinity of the suspect's house. We believe this was the instrument used in hitting Julia," police Director General Oscar Calderon told a radio interview. He said police found what appeared to be bloodstains on the wood. "There is a semblance really of foul play and that she is a victim because she was buried," he said. "The manhunt is under way." Campbell's face appeared to have been injured by blows from a hard object, Senior Superintendent Pedro Ganir, police chief of Ifugao province, which includes Banaue, said. He declined to give other details pending forensic tests. Ganir earlier said investigators were looking into "robbery with homicide or rape with homicide" — common motives when women disappear in the country — but he said he had no evidence without an autopsy. Police said the autopsy will be conducted Saturday. US military forensic experts will be flying to Manila from Maryland to observe the procedure, the US Embassy said. Troops found Campbell's body in a dry creek, covered with soil, gravel and grass. Police said a dog had dug out one of her feet by the time soldiers found her. Ganir said the man has been identified as the husband of the woman who sold Campbell a Coca-Cola before she proceeded with her hike. Campbell — a freelance journalist who had reported for The New York Times and other media organizations — was among 137 Peace Corps volunteers now in the Philippines. She had been teaching English at the Divine Word College in Albay province's Legazpi city, southeast of Manila, since October 2006. She also helped launch an ecology awareness campaign and build an Eco Center in Donsol in Sorsogon province, famous for whale sharks. Annie Lledo, head of Divine Word's English department, said the school staff, students and teachers could not hold back tears during a Mass for Campbell late Wednesday. "When she did not show up on April 11 ... to serve as one of the usherettes during the graduation ceremonies, everybody concluded that something was wrong. Julia never abandons her duties," she said. - GMANews.TV