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Man confesses to killing US Peace Corps volunteer

A woodcarver suspected of beating to death a Peace Corps volunteer gave himself up and confessed on television, saying he erupted in a rage when she bumped into him as he was fuming over a feud with a neighbor.

"I admit it, yes. I killed her, but I did not do whatever other people are thinking I did," Juan Duntugan told ABS-CBN television.

He was apparently referring to speculation that Julia Campbell may have been killed during an attempted rape or robbery.

"I did not plan to kill Ms Campbell, harm her," Duntugan said, appearing remorseful and shaking his head.

He claimed he dropped a bundle of clothes when Campbell, embarking on a hike by herself on April 8 to see Ifugao Province's famed mountainside rice terraces, bumped him from behind.

"My mind went blank," Duntugan said. "I did not know who she was or what she was. I got a rock and I hit her on the head. If I can change my body for hers, I will do it. But that's not possible. Whatever punishment you will impose on me, I will accept it."

National police chief Oscar Calderon said police were "documenting his statement in the presence of a lawyer."

Senior Superintendent Pedro Ganir, police chief of Ifugao, where Campbell's body was found on April 18 in a shallow grave, said that Duntugan's mother persuaded him to turn himself in.

Duntugan's wife sold Campbell a soft drink before her hike and a boy told police that he saw Duntugan near the grave that day. Duntugan went into hiding the next day.

A police autopsy showed that Campbell was killed by multiple blows to the head, and that her arms were injured, indicating she tried to defend herself.

Campbell, 40, of Fairfax, Virginia, had worked as a freelance journalist for the New York Times and other media organizations.

Friends and sympathizers are planning a big memorial service next Thursday in Bicol, where she last worked as an English teacher.

Jose de Venecia, speaker of the House of Representatives, said Campbell will be awarded the Philippine Congressional Medal of Achievement, the highest decoration by the legislature, describing her as a "martyred volunteer."
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