Crime Stoppers need tips on two Garapan homicide cases

The NMI Crime Stoppers is on the lookout for tips related to a couple of homicide incidents in Garapan that happened three years ago.

On May 26, 2001, the Department of Public Safety received a call reporting a possible dead person at the Ace Poker game room, located on the 1st floor across Johnny’s Bar & Grill.

Officers dispatched to the scene found the victim, Jose Agranum Dela Rosa, already dead.

“Mr. Dela Rosa had numerous cuts and punctured wounds on his body and an autopsy confirmed that he had died due to these serious injuries,” Crime Stoppers said.

Dela Rosa, an overseas contract worker, came to Saipan in 1996. He began work at Ace Poker game room as a cashier-poker attendant trainee in April 2001, a month before the incident.

The victim was last seen by his employer at about 1:30am on the day his body was found by police. He last spoke with his employer on that same morning at about 2am.

Other witnesses claimed seeing Dela Rosa at about 4am. Investigators believe the crime took place between 4-6am.

The next month, police received a call about a person lying on the ground near the Hard Rock Café along Beach Road Garapan. The incident was reported on June 17, 2001 at 2:49am.

According to Crime Stoppers, police found the victim, Ye Xiu Zhang, lying on the ground and injured.

Medics brought Zhang to the Commonwealth Health Center, where she became unconscious due to serious head injuries. The victim died on July 2 as a result of her injuries.

Traffic officers initially thought the incident to be a possible auto-pedestrian accident, but later learned that the victim either fell out or was thrown out from a moving vehicle that was heading north in front of the café.

“An autopsy revealed that Ms. Zhang died from a blunt trauma to her head, which confirmed that this was a homicide case,” Crime Stoppers said.

The victim was last seen wearing a white, purple and turquoise striped-and-checkered blouse, gray shorts, and white and yellow high-heeled sandals.

Crime Stoppers believe that someone may have seen Zhang or the vehicle earlier in the evening on the roadway from Diane’s Poker out to Beach Road by Big Dipper heading north.

Anyone who may have any information on these cases is urged to call the Crime Stoppers Tips Line at 234-7272. Information on other crimes is welcome.