ZAMBOANGA SIBUGAY: Authorities have dispatched a team of forensic experts on Sunday on a remote southern town in Zamboanga Sibugay province where a cadaver thought to be that of kidnapped Australian Warren Rodwell was found.
Police said gunmen barged December 5 in Rodwell’s house in the seaside town of Ipil and shot and wounded him during a struggle. His Filipino wife, Miraflor Gutang, 27, went along with the forensic experts to identify the decomposing body buried by villagers after nobody claimed the corpse.
The body, according to a military intelligence report, bore gunshot wounds in the leg, neck and behind the head, and was described as Caucasian, big and tall.
“An unidentified cadaver was recovered by civilians in the village of Labatan in Payao town and was buried on orders of the village chieftain after no one claimed the body. Victim sustained three gunshot wounds in his right leg, back of his lower neck and back of his head,” the report said.
The report sent local and foreign media scampering to confirm whether Rodwell was killed by his captors.
But a separate army report said the cadaver probably belonged to a Filipino.
“An investigation team who went to area and verified the buried cadaver reported that it does not match that of Rodwell. Height of cadaver is 5’5” and per observation that of a Filipino,” the report said.
A government militia, Romeo Angeles, who was among those who recovered the body on December 7 on the seaside town of Payao, said the cadaver did not belong to Rodwell.
“The physical profile did not match that of Rodwell. The body was about 5 feet and three inches and appeared to be a Filipino,” the 34-year old local said in an interview.
Rodwell’s wife, in a text message to the Sydney Morning Herald, said her husband has tattoos in both his arms and is taller. The woman said she is not allowed to talk to the media by the police for her own security.
Police have secured the woman and has brought her to an undisclosed safe house while security forces continue its search for Rodwell. No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, although the military said a local gang with links to the terrorist group called Abu Sayyaf and Muslim rebels could be responsible.
Both groups have been implicated in numerous kidnappings of foreigners and wealthy traders in the restive region of Mindanao. The kidnappers have not contacted Rodwell’s family or made a demand in exchange for his safe release, police said.
