A U.S. Marine was charged Wednesday with murder in the death of a transgender Filipina over the weekend.
Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton, of New Bedford, Mass., is accused of killing Jennifer Laude, formerly known as Jeffrey, late Saturday night in Olongapo City.
Witnesses say Pemberton, 19, met Laude, 26, at a nightclub and did not know she was transgender until they were alone together in a hotel room at the Celzone Lodge, where she was found strangled to death shortly after.
One of Pemberton’s neighbors in New Bedford was shocked to hear that the murder suspect lived on her street.
“The world is falling apart right now, between Ebola and everything else. I have grandchildren. What kind of world are we leaving them?” she told the Daily News.
The neighbor, who wished to remain anonymous, said she heard about the killing on the morning news and learned the suspect was a local boxer through the grapevine.
“A New Bedford guy killed a Filipino girl after he found out she was a guy,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to be with a guy and find out it’s a girl. I’d freak out. But I don’t think he should have killed anybody. I just think that’s what put him over the edge.”
On behalf of Laude’s family, attorney Harry Roque filed murder charges against Pemberton at the Olongapo City Prosecutor’s Office about 4:50 p.m. Wednesday, The Straits Times reported.
On Tuesday, Philippine National Police spokesman Wilben Mayor publicly identified Pemberton as the murder suspect. Previously, authorities only said the person in question was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines of Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
Olongapo police directed their focus on Pemberton after consulting with the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Police said Tuesday that a witness picked Pemberton out from a photo lineup and that the case was “being readied against the suspect,” according to Rappler, a Philippine news site.
He is in U.S. custody aboard the USS Peleliu in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, about 50 miles northwest of Manila.
With News Wire Services
