Carl dumped at staged crime scene – PAO

The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) yesterday said the crime scene where 19-year-old Carl Angelo Arnaiz was reportedly killed in a shootout was staged, saying that the former University of the Philippines (UP) student was slain somewhere else and was only dumped along C3 Road in Caloocan City.

Arnaiz, 19, was gunned down by policemen after he allegedly robbed a taxi driver on August 18 along C3 Road in Barangay 28, Caloocan City.

“There’s really no evidence to support ang narrative na doon siya (Arnaiz) napatay… Mukhang tinapon lang ang body niya roon sa pinapakitang crime scene. It was staged(There’s really no evidence to support the narrative that he was slain there… It seems that his body was just dumped in the so-called crime scene. It was staged),” Dr. Erwin Erfe, PAO’s forensic laboratory director, told the Manila Bulletin. No traces of blood He said that there were no traces of blood. Likewise, he said that the slugs of the bullets that exited the body of Arnaiz were nowhere to be found in the supposed crime scene.

“Naghanap kami ng blood [traces] knowing na doon siya tinamaan ng bala. Naghanap din kami ng bullet tracks doon sa top soil–sa ibabaw ng lupa. Pero negative, wala kaming nakuha (We searched for blood traces knowing that he was shot there. We also looked for bullet tracks in the topsoil. But we got nothing, it turned out to be negative),” Erfe said.

All green, no red The forensic expert said that traces of blood would not vanish even it rained, saying there should still be traces of blood on the leaves or stems of plants if Arnaiz was killed there.

“‘Yung mga dugo-dugo usually nasa under [or] side iyan ng mga dahon. Makikita mo rin doon sa stem [ng halaman] kahit pa umulan ay may makikita ka pa rin diyan. Kasi, sa mga tama ni Carl na ganoon, may makikita ka pa ring dugo [dahil] maraming dugo na lumabas sa kanya. Pero bakit wala kaming nakitang dugo doon (The blood spilled should be under or on the side of the leaves. You can also see the blood on the stem of a plant even it rained. Because Arnaiz was shot several times, much blood came out. But why is that we did not see any trace of blood)?” Erfe explained. Soil clues Since the trajectory of the gunshots sustained by Carl was downward, the slugs should have been in the ground of the crime scene. However, Erfe said that they found nothing even though they dug the topsoil in the crime scene.

“Tinanggal din namin ang damo. Tinanggal din namin ang top soil. Pero wala pa rin kaming nakitang bullet track. (We removed the grass. We also removed the top soil. Yet, there was still no bullet track),” the forensic expert said.

“Yung vegetation nga doon, in fact, walang disturbance–‘yung mga damo-damo at halaman. Kaya, we came into conclusion na hindi ito ang crime scene (The vegetation there has no disturbance–the grasses and plants. This is why we came into a conclusion that it was not the crime scene),” he added.