CIB now probing 3 homicides
The Department of Public Safety is now treating the death of missing person Jesus Pinaula Rios as a homicide, which means the department’s Criminal Investigative Bureau now has three killings on its hands.
It’s more of a procedural matter, though, according to assistant Chief of Police Simon Mañacop, who quickly clarified that this is usually done for death investigations. He said the decision to treat Rios’ death as a homicide was made in order to make the case a top priority.
“This does not necessarily mean that this case was a[n actual] homicide. This is done with death investigations, especially with ones where the death may be questionable,” he said.
This is on top of two other open homicide cases that CIB is investigating. That means DPS now has three homicide cases in the last two months alone. The gruesome murder of partners Jing Dong Wang and Shuping Liu are the first two homicides this year.
Previously, Mañacop shared that so far, the investigation into Rios’ death did not uncover evidence of foul play.
With the trio of homicide investigations, DPS’ CIB unit is being spread thin, Mañacop said. Currently, most of CIB’s manpower are being directed toward the investigation into Rios’ death.
“We’re definitely short. The last [time] I was briefed, CIB has scaled down the investigators directly assigned to the double homicide. Evidence has been sent out to the Guam Police Department’s Forensic Laboratory for examination. [We’re] awaiting results now. With this recent death investigation, most detectives are again diverted to prioritize this investigation,” he said.
According to Saipan Tribune archives, the body of Rios, who had been missing for over a week, was found last Feb. 10 at 10am in a state of decomposition near a compound in As Lito.
“Preliminary investigations reveal that a witness who resides in the compound was mowing grass when he smelled the odor of what he initially thought was that of a decomposing dead animal. Witnesses decided to check on the two goats that belong to the family when he discovered a dead person in a state of decomposition. DPS was then notified of the discovery. Further investigations confirmed the identity of the deceased as Jesus P. Rios, who was reported missing last Feb. 5,” DPS’ report states.
Rios was a 67-year-old male who was residing in Finasisu when he went missing last Feb. 5. According to reports, Rios was last seen at about 12pm on Feb. 5 by a family member who saw him go outside the home to smoke.
As for the double homicide of Wang and Liu, the couple was found brutally attacked last Jan. 4 in their residence in Finasisu. Wang was found dead at the scene; Liu died a few days later at the local hospital.
Since then, police investigators have looked into a couple of leads. DPS said they have since interviewed a few people of interest in relation to the murders and even searched for evidence at the Marpi landfill.
So far, DPS awaits forensic evidence results that could possibly give investigators more answers.
DPS continues to encourage the public to report any information they may have regarding any one of these homicide cases.
Simon Manacop
