Charges dropped against cop linked to Catherine Camilon’s disappearance
The charges against the cop who’s the main suspect behind the disappearance of beauty queen Catherine Camilon have been dismissed.
GMA’s 24 Oras reported on Wednesday, May 15 that the complaints in line with kidnapping and serious illegal detention filed against Maj. Allan Avena de Castro as well as his personal driver and bodyguard Jeffrey Magpantay were dropped due to lack of evidence.
The victim’s family expressed their disappointment over the regional prosecutor’s decision, according to the news outlet.
Camilon, joined Miss Grand Philippines in July 2023, has been missing for six months now. She was last spotted in a shopping mall in Lemery hours before being reported missing on Oct. 12. She, however, last told her mother, Rosario, that she was at a gasoline station in Bauan.
The beauty queen said she’d go to Batangas City for a meeting with Balisong Channel, an online media company where she was a former talent. But Balisong Channel said she didn't visit its office and was last there on Dec. 13, 2021.
In November 2023, Philippine National Police spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said in a press conference that de Castro, Magpantay, and two John Does were charged with the kidnapping and serious illegal detention of Camilon.
According to a testimony by Camilon's friend, de Castro was chatting with Camilon before she was reported missing. Two witnesses, who later came forward to help with the investigation, said Magpantay was one of the three men that they spotted transferring a bloodied woman from one vehicle to another the night before Camilon disappeared.
A love angle was being considered by authorities as a possible motive for the case. De Castro admitted to having an affair with Camilon in late 2023 but denied it in March this year and was cited in contempt by the Senate for allegedly lying during the hearing.
De Castro has been dismissed from service due to conduct unbecoming of a police officer, particularly his illicit relationship with Camilon since he has a wife and two kids.