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DPS rules death of woman on Rota a suicide
The Department of Public Safety has ruled that the death of a woman on Rota last week appears to be a suicide incident and not a homicide.
DPS Commissioner James C. Deleon Guerrero said yesterday that investigators on Saipan have been working closely with the officers on Rota regarding the investigation into the death of Rose S. Pangelinan.
Deleon Guerrero said suicides are normally incidents that they do not talk a whole lot about as they don’t wish individuals who have suicidal thoughts to actually take their own lives.
DPS acting spokesman Jason Tarkong said police officers responded on Thursday to a house in Sinapalo II on Rota, where a woman was found with no pulse and not breathing.
Tarkong said medics responded to the scene and attempted to revive the woman, but were unsuccessful.
The woman, identified as Pangelinan, was transported to the Rota Health Center, where a nurse practitioner pronounced her dead.
Tarkong said like any case that is not a natural death, they treat the matter like a homicide.
He said over a couple of days, he contacted the Rota DPS resident director and a detective of the case, who confirmed that based on their preliminary and secondary investigations, Pangelinan’s case was re-classified as a suicide.
Asked if there was an autopsy conducted, Tarkong said he is not aware of it and that he will confirm it later.
Family members earlier urged police to look into Pangelinan’s death.
