Police arrest suspect in 2002 poker homicide

Authorities finally arrested a suspect in the killing of a poker attendant in Tanapag three years ago, according to the Department of Public Safety.

Police spokesman Eric F. David disclosed yesterday that lawmen from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the DPS Criminal Investigation Bureau Homicide Section arrested 42-year-old Francisco Aguon Pua at 9:20am yesterday at his workplace in Tanapag.

“The suspect offered no resistance,” David said. “He was cooperative with the agents and the CIB investigators.”

Pua was arrested for allegedly murdering 33-year-old Mostofa Faruk Parves, a Bangladeshi national employed as attendant at Candi’s Poker.

Police record show that Parves was beaten to death during the early hours of May 22, 2002. His body was discovered early that morning by the establishment’s manager.

Then-police spokesman Lt. Pete C. Muna had said that multiple wounds were found on the victim’s body but he declined to elaborate pending completion of the investigation.

At that time, Muna confirmed that the motive behind the homicide was robbery, though it was not disclosed if money was taken from the Tanapag poker place.

Police said that the Homicide Task Force initially found it difficult to solve the crime due to some witnesses fearing for their safety or informants leaving the island.

David said that investigators knew Pua was among several others at the crime scene at the time of the incident, after reviewing footage taken from the establishment’s surveillance camera.

Evidence from the crime scene as well as from the suspect’s residence were sent to the FBI laboratory in Quanaco, Virginia for testing and analysis.

David said local authorities finally received results of the tests this year.

“Results of the evidence collected from the crime scene and the suspect’s residence matched,” he said.

David did not elaborate on what kind of evidence were taken from the scene and from Pua’s house but he said DNA samples were their strongest evidence.

“Now, even when a case happened 10 years ago, especially if its homicide and is a lifetime case that is cold and open…DNA is still a very good thing and we’ll still work on it until there’s an arrest,” he said.

He said the lengthy time for local authorities to receive the results of the tests may be due to the FBI lab being loaded with many other cases.

“We do not have the capabilities and equipments for testing,” he said.

David said, though, that results are now available at a faster rate because the department can now forward evidence to a laboratory in Hawaii or in Australia.

Meanwhile, David said the suspect, employed at Top Fashion, is a Tanapag resident who also has a pending assault and battery case dating to Jan. 10 this year. The suspect reportedly assaulted an establishment’s security guard.

Just a day after the crime, the NMI Crime Stoppers offered an award of $1,000 for the arrest of the suspect in the case.

Also, the Bangladeshi government reportedly sought the assistance of local authorities in bringing justice to the death Parves.

Former department commissioner Edward C. Camacho earlier said the state department of the regional office of Hawaii asked him to provide assistance to the Bangladeshi government regarding the case.