ANTIPOLO CITY, Philippines, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- The U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service is probing the killing of a Filipino cab driver for links to an alleged murder plot, officials say.
Antipolo City Police Superintendent Col. Dioscoro Maata says the NCIS is working with police to examine the April 6 slaying of cab driver Peter Turiano, Stars and Stripes reported Wednesday.
Ruby Ramores, the sister of the slain cabbie, told the newspaper that police are looking for links between the April incident -- in which a gunman hijacked the cab and shot Turiano -- and the cab's passengers, Master Chief Petty Officer John Bench and his family.
Bench, 39, died Aug. 30 in a motorcycle crash shortly after allegedly killing his 12-year-old son and assaulting his wife and daughter Aug. 30 at their home on Sasebo Naval Base, Japan, authorities say.
Police suspect Bench had a Filipina mistress, with whom he conspired to have his wife killed while on the April visit to Antipolo City, Stars and Stripes said.
Ramores told the newspaper that police have questioned the alleged mistress regarding the death of her brother. Authorities said the unknown gunmen fled the cab after shooting Turiano, leaving the Bench family unharmed.
