The news came as the maid’s family told The SUN that an autopsy had been carried out on her remains on Sept. 1, but the results won’t be known until the end of the month.
Until then, Asuncion’s body will remain in Shenzhen.
“Hinihintay pa yung result bago maiuwi ang body niya. After 20 to 30 days pa yung result. Na-autopsy siya noong Sept 1,” Javier said.
“Ang sa police naman po, ganundin po. Hihintayin din nila ang result bago mabuksan yung area,” she said, referring to the 22nd floor flat in a housing block from where the Filipina fell to her death on July 24.
However, as early as Aug. 9, the Guangdong Public Security Department had indicated it was not looking at homicide as the cause of Asuncion’s death.
In a reply to a note verbale from the Philippine Consulate in Guangdong, the police said:
“At present, the legal medical expert has certified that Asuncion Lorain Escorial died from falling off the building and has excluded any possible homicide.”
Despite this, Asuncion’s male employer, Gu Huaiya, and his wife, surnamed Liu, were arrested on Aug 17 after they were summoned to the Hong Kong police headquarters in Wanchai.
The couple was held on a charge of conspiring to defraud HK Immigration by claiming that their domestic would work only in the territory.
Police reportedly found out that the Filipina had been taken across the border by her employers four times in the nine months that she was in their employ.
They were released on bail but told to report to the police again by mid-September.
The police report said Asuncion entered Shenzhen through Futian port on July 22 and stayed in the house of her female employer’s father, Liu Heping, while her employers’ family was touring other parts of China.
When Liu woke up at around 9am on July 23, he could not find Asuncion in the flat but all her personal belongings were there, the police report said. Liu reported the Filipina’s disappearance to the police station in Ban Tian.
Around 9am on July 24, Liu again called the police and reported that he had found the body of Asuncion below the residential block, the police reported.
Asuncion’s sister, Jenevieve A. Javier, said in an online message she had requested the Philippine Consulate in Guangzhou to hire a private doctor to carry out the autopsy to ensure a thorough examination of the victim’s body.
She said the autopsy would include an internal examination of Asuncion’s body to find the exact cause of death, as a police autopsy would only look for external telltale signs.
Javier and an aunt, Susan Escorial, went to Shenzhen via Hong Kong in early August and were escorted by police and an officer from the Consulate in Guangzhou to Liu’s house, which had been sealed as the investigation was ongoing.
