Google map of Cagayan de Oro City.
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Authorities ruled out on Monday the possibility of a foul play in the death of an American national here on Sunday evening.
Police identified the American national as Bryan Richard Roche, 59, a divorcee and a native of Boston, Massachusetts.
Major Evan Viñas, city police spokesperson, said Roche was living with Filipino partner Lain Manzano, 49, in a housing subdivision in Barangay Camaman-an, this city.
Viñas said the couple has traveled to the U.S. on several occasions.
He said Roche, a retired U.S. Army soldier, arrived in the country about two years ago.
Viñas added Roche was briefly detained at a local police station on June 6, 2019 for grave threats filed by a neighbor but the complaint was later dropped.
A police report said the victim was found lying dead on the bedroom floor around 10:42 p.m “already lifeless when she (Manzano) she checked on him”.
Viñas said Manzano went out of the house the couple was renting when the foreigner died.
He said investigators were able to confirm, by talking to neighbors, that the victim’s partner left Roche inside the house alone for a few hours.
“She must have been gone for hours, and when she came back, she found Roche already dead,” said Viñas.
Senior Master Sergeant Neil Apollo delas Alas, the investigator on-case, said on the report he found no sign that could indicate foul play.
The American, he said, was “presumed to have died of natural death due to health problems”.
Based on the statement of Manzano, Roche had been confined at a nearby medical facility hours before his death.
The police report said Roche was admitted at the Maria Reyna Xavier University Hospital after he was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis, or the inflammation of the pancreas, and hypertensive urgency.
Viñas said the victim insisted on going out of the hospital against the doctor’s advice on Sept. 15.
He said Roche signed a waiver and was released on Sunday afternoon.
“He told his partner he would rather stay at home than at the hospital,” said Viñas.
The American Embassy in Manila has already been informed of Roche’s death, police said. (PNA)
