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."
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in