Authorities in Peñaranda, Nueva Ecija are investigating the death of two people whose bodies were found inside a car that exploded in Barangay Sinasajan.

Police earlier said CCTV footage from the area could help determine what happened.

A viral video showed a man dressed in black walking past the parked red car and speaking to someone before leaving. Minutes later, a tricycle arrived, and its passenger appeared to pour liquid into the vehicle before it exploded and caught fire.

In a report by Jun Veneracion on 24 Oras, authorities said two gunshots were heard from inside the parked car in Barangay Sinasajan on March 9.

After the shots were fired, a man was seen getting out of the vehicle and leaving the area. He later returned on board a tricycle, poured liquid inside the car, and set it on fire before fleeing with the tricycle driver.

Fire investigators later discovered the burned bodies of a man and a woman inside the vehicle.

According to Peñaranda police officer-in-charge Vincent Taylor, both victims had gunshot wounds at the back of their heads.

“Meron silang tama sa batok nila sa likod,” Taylor said, adding that investigators recovered two fired cartridge cases inside the Toyota Wigo.

Two days after the killing, police arrested four individuals — including a woman tagged as the alleged mastermind, her husband, and two others believed to be accessories to the crime.

Authorities said a selfie taken by the female victim helped identify the suspects. Before she was killed, the victim reportedly sent a photo to her husband in the United States showing herself along with a woman and a man seated in the back of the car.

Police said it had been the victim’s habit to send selfies to her husband whenever she went out, which proved helpful in the investigation.

The alleged mastermind was later arrested in Isabela.

Police said they are filing a murder case against the primary suspect, while her husband and another individual may face charges as accessories for allegedly harboring the suspect.

Investigators believe the female victim and the primary suspect were friends and that a debt worth millions of pesos could be the possible motive for the killing.

Authorities added that the male victim may have only been asked to drive the car and was not the intended target.

Police are also pursuing two more suspects believed to be the gunman and the tricycle driver who helped the suspect flee.