PNP Puerto Princesa confirms that the human skeleton found in Barangay Santa Lourdes was Jovelyn Galleno's bones based on the DNA test conducted by the Police.
According to the PNP spokesperson, Police Captain Maria Victoria Iquin, the DNA samples from the skeleton has matched 99.99% to the swab sample from Jovelyn's mom. Therefore, it was confirmed that it was Jovelyn Galleno's remains.
Jovelyn Galleno was reported missing since August 5, 2022 and on August 23, 2022, her bones were found in a deserted area in Santa Lourders, Puerto Princesa Palawan.
The perpetrators and prime suspects of the crime were the victim's cousins: Leobert Dasmariñas and Juvert Valdestamon.
Leobert Dasmariñas admitted that he and his cousin, Juvert, committed the crime. The investigation of the case became controversial because of the different conspiracy theories that came out regarding the real story on how and why Jovelyn has gone missing. Senator Raffy Tulfo in his online show requested the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to conduct an independent investigation and DNA test of the said skeletal remains of the victim to further shed light the case.
On the other side, before the DNA test result came out, Jovelyn's family were not fully convinced that it's their relative that was found despite the personal belongings that were recovered in the crime scene. Nearby residents also questioned the integrity of the report because they did not notice any awful odor that may have come from a rotten human remains in the past three weeks when Jovelyn's body might have been on a decomposing stage.
Forensic expert explained that a human body could decompose as fast as three weeks under certain weather and environmental condition but normally, it will take few months even years to totally decompose the human body. Human flesh could fall off from bones when it's burnt with acid and it could also damage the bones, but it's not in case of Jovelyn's bones.
On the evidences that was presented by the Palawan Police, the skull and the bones seemed to have been exposed to too much heat in the open field for a long period of time already and there was no trace of any decomposing tissues. Hair does not decompose easily and it's quite questionable how it disappeared in just three weeks.
Jovelyn's family is still hoping that she is still alive and in good hands and that what happened was just a cover up.
