Autopsy results found no foul play in the deaths of Joan L. Taitano and ocean swimmer Monte Monfore, according to the Department of Public Safety yesterday. <\/p>\n
In the Chalan Kanoa case, acting police spokesman Jason Tarkong also said yesterday that the death of 53-year-old Josephina Pineda is classified as a homicide due to the many injuries the victim sustained as a result of the attack. <\/p>\n
Guam chief medical examiner Dr. Aurelio Espinola conducted the autopsies on the bodies of Taitano, Monfore, and Pineda at the Commonwealth Health Center\u2019s morgue last Saturday.<\/p>\n
Tarkong said that Taitano\u2019s fatal injuries were consistent with falling from a high point with sudden impact.<\/p>\n
There was \u201cno evidence of foul play involved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In Monfore\u2019s case, Tarkong said the autopsy results classified it as an accidental death.<\/p>\n
He did not provide other details.<\/p>\n
In his initial report, Tarkong identified Monfore as Thomas M. Montgomery, citing a police report from Rota DPS.<\/p>\n
Monfore\u2019s younger sister, Dana Monfore Lucas, told Saipan Tribune last night that her brother\u2019s legal name was Montgomery Thomas Monfore.<\/p>\n
Tarkong later issued a statement clarifying that the victim\u2019s last name was \u201cMonfore, first name Montgomery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taitano, 37, was found dead by search teams at the bottom of a 200-foot cliff near the radar building in Marpi last Tuesday morning, two days after she was reported missing. She was last seen alive last Oct. 26. Her car was found locked by the radar building last Monday, Oct. 30.<\/p>\n
Monfore, 56, was found floating in the swimming hole at Pinatang Beach, Rota in the afternoon of Oct. 24. He was pronounced dead at the Rota Health Center.<\/p>\n
Lucas told Saipan Tribune that she was taken aback when she learned from media that her brother\u2019s death had been ruled accidental by the medical examiner.<\/p>\n
Lucas said that Espinola and Rota police detective Shawn C. Taisacan have failed to respond to her and her father\u2019s recent attempts to reach them both before and after the autopsy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is troubling to hear the ruling without knowing what evidence was collected via the autopsy, and the investigation, that points to an accident, rather than foul play,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Lucas decries what she described as \u201ca lack of transparency from the authorities all along.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis ruling, at this time, does not bring us closure, but leaves us with more unanswered questions about my brother\u2019s death,\u201d she said, adding that she has sought legal advice.<\/p>\n
In Pineda\u2019s case, she was allegedly stabbed by Alfonso Sebastian Parongan with a kitchen knife outside Parongan\u2019s home along Texas Road, Chalan Kanoa, last Oct. 29.<\/p>\n
Pineda\u2019s husband, Antonio Barrit, 62, sustained several injuries after Parongan chased him and stabbed him. Parongan, who was arrested that same night, allegedly confessed to police that he stabbed the couple and that he was high on \u201cice\u201d and heavily drunk that day. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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