‘Case closed’: Policewoman, son killed by suspects selling ‘nonexistent’ SUV for P1M
Police Senior Master Sgt. Diane Mollenido and her 8-year-old son John Ysmael were killed by a car agent and her husband who allegedly tried to scam the policewoman, who wanted to buy a sport utility vehicle (SUV), according to the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).
“The transaction started on Dec. 15. Dianne was going to buy a Montero and Pia [Katrina Panganiban], her car agent, had a Montero she was offering for sale,” NCRPO Director Maj. Gen. Anthony Aberin said at a press briefing in Camp Crame on Tuesday.
“It turned out the Montero was nonexistent. So we can suppose there was probably a disagreement and this is the motive we are looking at for why [Mollenido] was killed,” he added. Aberin said the policewoman gave Panganiban P550,000 as down payment for the Montero on Dec. 18. The SUV was priced at around P1 million.
“To come up with the remaining account, Mollenido was going to sell her Innova with Pia again as her agent,” Aberin told reporters. He said that on Jan. 16, mother and son went to Panganiban’s house in Novaliches, Quezon City, to meet with someone who supposedly wanted to buy their Innova. That was the last time the victims were seen alive.
Mollenido was found dead with a gunshot wound in the head at a creek in Bulacan on Jan. 24. The body of her son, who was suffocated by the suspects using a plastic bag, was recovered from a calamansi farm in Tarlac on Jan. 29.
The 38-year-old policewoman was assigned to the NCRPO’s Personnel and Records Management Division based in Taguig City.
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla, who was also at the briefing, said that Panganiban and her husband, dismissed police officer Christian Panganiban, were the primary suspects in the killing.
Charges to be filed
“Based on our investigation, this is considered case closed. Charges will be filed,” Remulla said.
According to him, the couple killed the victims inside their house on Jan. 16 while their three children, aged 10, 8 and 6, were in another room.
“They didn’t witness the crime but they probably heard something for sure because the house is small,” Remulla said. The children have since been turned over to the couple’s relatives.
The interior secretary further narrated that the victims’ bodies were stored in a stock room and then transferred to the car of the couple who took their children along on what was supposedly a family trip.
“They were supposed to go to Baguio. But they suddenly turned back. They dumped the bodies in Tarlac and Bulacan,” Remulla said.
He added that from there, the family slept in a motel in Fairview, as captured by a closed-circuit TV camera, and then went to Pansol, Laguna, where they stayed overnight before returning to their house in Novaliches.
Remulla said that forensic testing at the couple’s house has yet to be completed, while the police have yet to recover the gun used to shoot Mollenido.
Phones to be checked
The police, he added, would be applying for a cyber warrant to conduct a digital forensic test of the phones belonging to the couple, as well as Mollenido, to look for more evidence.
According to Remulla, Panganiban was the subject of a prior complaint for estafa dated July 18, 2024, while her husband had a record for kidnapping and serious illegal detention dated July 28, 2017.
Aside from the couple, the police also arrested their helper after a forensic test found traces of blood in their house. A fourth suspect, Christian Panganiban’s sister, surrendered to the police on Feb. 2.
Mollenido’s husband, meanwhile, remains a “person of interest,” according to Remulla. Panganiban had alleged that Police Senior Master Sgt. John Mollenido, who submitted himself voluntarily to authorities, was involved as well. His lawyer, however, said that he was innocent.
“First, he had his wife cremated immediately in the clothes she died in. He’s a policeman. He should’ve known better. Second, during the interview, he did not show remorse … So, we’re digging into the possible angle that her husband was part of it,” Remulla said.
