SINGAPORE: Another key piece of evidence has emerged as the Spanish Civil Guard continues to build its case against Singaporean Mitchell Ong, the suspect in the killing of compatriot Audrey Fang.
A car rented by Ong was caught on closed-circuit television at the location where Ms Fang’s body was found, a Spanish newspaper reported on Wednesday (Apr 24).
On Apr 9, Ms Fang, who was on a solo trip to Spain, left her belongings at her hotel and was never heard from again.
According to Spanish online newspaper El Espanol, the chief inspector of the local police division came across the 39-year-old’s body with 30 stab wounds the next day while he was on his way to breakfast at a restaurant near the RM-422 highway in the town of Abanilla.
A preliminary autopsy report found that knife wounds and head trauma were the cause of her death, reported Spanish daily La Verdad de Murcia.
Ong was arrested in Alicante on Apr 16 and appeared in court three days later.
On Wednesday, La Verdad reported that a CCTV camera captured footage of a grey Nissan Qashqai entering the parking area of the restaurant, Los Collares, at 11.28pm on Apr 9 via the RM-422 highway.
The car stopped by an almond grove and remained in that same spot for 18 minutes until 11.46pm, when it left in the same direction it came from. Ms Fang’s body was found in the grove on Apr 10.
Police traced the Qashqai to a rental company who identified Ong as the person who rented the car on Apr 3. It was still in his possession at the time of his arrest.
The authorities have also obtained footage confirming the route taken by Ong from his hotel in Alicante to Abanilla on Apr 9. A search by CNA on Google Maps showed that the Los Collares restaurant is about 70km, or an hour’s drive, away from Alicante.
According to La Verdad, when Ong was arrested at the Eurostars Lucentum hotel, the Qashqai was parked at a nearby public car park and its keys were found on him.
It added that the suspect had bought a vacuum cleaner, with a judge in the Magistrate’s Court of Cieza, which is overseeing the case, noting that it was “very suspicious” that a rental car had to be cleaned.
On Tuesday, the newspaper reported that the soles of the €935 (US$1,000) limited edition Nike sneakers that were in his hotel room matched footprints found at the crime scene.
The Civil Guard has sent a sample of soil found embedded in the soles for laboratory analysis to determine if it matches the soil found on Ms Fang’s body.
They are also looking to compare that sample with the sandstone found in the Abanilla area.
