Beauty pageant candidate, Israeli fiancé die from gunshot wounds

MANILA, Philippines — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Sunday reported that beauty pageant candidate Geneva Lopez and her Israeli partner Yitshak Cohen died from gunshot wounds.

Both victims sustained two gunshot wounds each, according to the autopsy results obtained by GMA News.

Lopez was shot in the back of her torso and her left thigh, resulting in a fracture. 

Cohen, on the other hand, sustained gunshot wounds to his left chest and near his armpit.

A bullet was found in Lopez’s body and will be tested for ballistics. 

DNA analysis by the Scene of the Crime Operation (SOCO) is still pending.

Relatives reported Geneva Lopez, 27, a candidate in the Mutya ng Pilipinas Pampanga 2023, and her partner, Yitshak Cohen, 37, missing on June 22, a day after the couple went to Capas, Tarlac to check a property that they planned to buy.

A sport utility vehicle used by the couple was found burned in Barangay Cristo Rey in Capas on June 24.

Last Friday, two decomposing bodies discovered in Barangay Sta. Lucia, Capas, Tarlac, were confirmed to be the victims based on their clothing and items found with them.

Col. Jean Fajardo, the PNP public information officer, said that relatives of Lopez and Cohen positively identified the bodies by the clothes they were wearing when they went missing on June 21.

Fajardo also reported that five persons of interest, including two former police officers, are in police custody. They were arrested separately in Tarlac for illegal possession of firearms.