Campbell’s remains arrive in Manila, autopsy put on hold

By Ronron
April 19, 2007

The remains of US Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell arrived in Manila on Thursday afternoon but were not immediately subjected to autopsy pending the arrival of an American forensic pathologist from the United States.

A Philippine Air Force (PAF) Huey chopper carried the body, placed inside a cadaver bag. Another Huey escorted the main helicopter. The choppers landed at the Camp Crame open ground in Quezon City at around 2:10 pm.

Philippine Army 502nd Infantry Brigade commander Col. Victor Felix said the choppers took off from Banaue in Ifugao at 9:50 am.

Campbell’s remains were discovered by Army troopers at around 10:30 am Wednesday along a creek in Barangay Battad of said town where she was supposed to take a hiking before going missing.

“With great sadness, yes, it was the body of Julia Campbell, the peace corps volunteer who went missing since April 8,” US Embassy spokesman Matthew Lussenhop told reporters yesterday at Camp Crame minutes before the 40-year-old victim’s body arrived.

Lussenhop said the embassy based its confirmation on the identity of the body from the pronouncements of the “officers and security forces in the scene at the discovery site.”

From Camp Crame, the cadaver was taken to Loyola Memorial Chapels in Guadalupe, Makati City aboard a blue van provided by the US Embassy.

Lussenhop said the body will be refrigerated there until the American forensic pathologist arrives to assist in the post-mortem examination.

“We’re just waiting for the cadaver (to arrive) here,” said Supt. Joselito Rodrigo, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Medico-Legal Division, in a news conference after the cadaver’s arrival.

But he said should the autopsy start, the US pathologist “just observe” the procedure and not perform jointly with the PNP Medico-Legal team. Normally, the five-stage process will last within nine days, he said.

“We are supposed to be the lead (in the examination),” said Sr. Supt. Danny Ramon Siongco, PNP Crime Laboratory Deputy Director for Operations, in the same news conference.

The procedure is intended to establish the identity of the cadaver, and the cause of death.

Police and embassy officials refused to cite the cause of Campbell’s death, saying it is best to wait for the autopsy to be completed.

But when told that there were reports about homicide being the cause of her death, PNP chief for the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM) Director Geary Barias said: “That’s the initial findings of our investigators on the ground, especially the Provincial Director of Ifugao, from the visual investigation that was done.”

He did not elaborate.

Nonetheless, he said, “we hope that we can get a more conclusive assessment as to the cause of death of the peace corps volunteer.”/DMS