MANILA, Philippines, May 24 (UPI) -- Philippine police have named three Europeans as suspects in the May 2 murder of a wealthy Hong Kong art dealer and three others in Boracay, an island resort.
Swiss-born Hong Kong art dealer Manfred Schoeni, German property developer Anton Faustenhauser, Hong Kong-based British architect John Cowperthwaite and Faustenhauser's Filipina maid were found stabbed to death on May 2 in the developer's villa on Boracay island.
The motive was initially viewed as robbery. Several local construction workers were questioned over the deaths and released.
On Monday, police named Britons Keith Redfern and Patrick Higgs as suspects, along with German Uwe Friesl, the South China Morning Post reported. The three are at large, but barred from leaving the country.
Police earlier asked state prosecutors to indict Friesl and four Filipinos. They now accuse the two Britons of hiring the four Filipinos who allegedly carried out the murders.
Friesl was an employee of Faustenhauser while Higgs is the victim's business partner in a Boracay bar, the immigration bureau said. Redfern is described as having a Filipina wife.
The crime had shocked the Philippines and raised fears it could affect the already ailing tourism industry.
