Soco performs autopsy on body of officer found dead in Maharlika

By NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent .

THE Scene of the Crime Operatives autopsied the body of the member of the City Mobile Force Company (CMFC) who was found dead under still mysterious circumstances inside the Maharlika headquarters of the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office on Tuesday night.

Senior Insp. Demver Vergara, chief of the Carmen police, said it was the CMFC that asked the Soco to perform the autopsy at the St. Peter’s Funeral Homes in Barangay Iponan.

Vergara said the examination of the body included a paraffin test on the hands of PO3 Joseph Marimond to determine whether or not his death was a case of accidental shooting.

Marimond, 30, was found dead  at around 11 pm Tuesday on a bed in a room being used by the CMFC at the 2nd level of the old Maharlika headquarters building on Gumamela Extension, Carmen.

Initial investigation showed he died after being hit by a bullet on the right part of the forehead that exited through the back of the head.

Police initially theorized that it was Marimond’s own 9mm Glock pistol that did him in.

Investigators have not ruled out the possibility of suicide or foul play.

Vergara said investigators have continued looking for clues and collecting data to determine what really happened in the room where Marimond died.

The Soco have yet to release the results of the autopsy.

But Vergara said that there were indications that Marimond died after his pistol accidentally discharged a bullet.

Police said Marimond went inside the room to change clothes because he was about to man a post at the entrance of the Maharlika headquarters that night.