TARLAC, Philippines – On June 22, social media posts from concerned friends announced that Kapampangan beauty queen Geneva Lopez and boyfriend Yitzhak Cohen were missing. The posts went viral, sparking public interest in the case. Lopez, a Mutya ng Pilipinas Pampanga 2023 candidate, and Cohen had gone to Tarlac for a supposed land transaction in Tarlac the day before, on June 21.
Both had been unreachable on social media and their mobile phone numbers since around 3 pm of that day. Police say seven people are believed to be involved in the case, including two former cops. They are looking at a botched land transaction as the possible motive behind the killing of the couple .
Here is the timeline of the case based on police reports obtained by Rappler. June 22 The Bureau of Fire Protection in Capas, Tarlac (BFP-Capas), investigates an abandoned and burned SUV in Barangay Cristo Rey a few hours past midnight, after a video of the burning car was sent to the BFP-Capas Facebook account. Lopez’s family confirm that the recovered items from the vehicle, including an ID, belong to Geneva.
Lopez’s sister, Joni, reports the couple as missing. She also hands in a request for a flash alarm of an abandoned burned vehicle from the Capas municipal police station. June 23 Capas police begin to establish the connection between Lopez and former cop Michael Guiang, who, they discover, met prior to the couple’s disappearance.
CCTV footage confirms the last sighting of Lopez and Cohen in.