The Murder of Nida Blanca

A Star of Philippine Film and Television

Nida Blanca was the screen name of Dorothy Jones, born on 6 January 1936 in Gapan, Nueva Ecija, to a Filipino mother and an American serviceman father. She began acting in films as a teenager and went on to appear in more than 200 movies over six decades. Many viewers knew her best as Marsha in the long-running comedy John en Marsha, opposite Dolphy. She had a daughter, Kaye Torres, from her first marriage, and was later married to Rod Lauren Strunk, an American singer and actor.

The Discovery at Atlanta Centre

On the morning of 7 November 2001, the 65-year-old actress was found dead in the back seat of her car in the sixth-floor parking area of the Atlanta Centre building in Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila. An autopsy found that she had died from stab wounds. The killing of such a familiar figure led to one of the most closely followed murder investigations in the country.

A Confession, Then a Retraction

A police task force, named Task Force Marsha after her famous role, took up the case. Thirteen days after the killing, a man named Philip Medel gave a handwritten confession in which he said he had been hired to carry out the attack, naming Strunk and an intermediary, Mike Martinez, as those behind it. Within days Medel retracted, saying he had confessed under torture. Officials disputed the torture claim. Martinez's family later reported him missing.

Investigators from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the police pursued the theory that Strunk was the mastermind, citing witnesses who described alleged money and property disputes in the marriage. Strunk denied any involvement. He left for the United States in early 2002, saying he needed to care for his ailing mother, before any charges were filed against him.

Charges and the Failed Extradition

The NBI filed its complaint against Strunk in July 2002. On 14 February 2003, the Department of Justice filed murder charges against Strunk, Medel and a third man, Vicente Polinar, in the Pasig Regional Trial Court. Prosecutors said Medel's recantation did not erase the confession and was a matter for the defence to raise at trial.

The Philippines then asked the United States to extradite Strunk. He was arrested in California in 2003, but in November that year US Magistrate Gregory Hollows refused the request. He found the evidence so inconsistent and conflicting that it did not show probable cause linking Strunk to the killing, while noting that the ruling did not prevent a fresh request supported by better evidence. Strunk was freed. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said the government would seek to appeal, but he was never returned to the Philippines.

Deaths of Both Accused and the Case Today

Strunk died on 11 July 2007 after falling from a balcony at an inn in Tracy, California; local police said the death appeared to be suicide. He was 68 and had never stood trial. Medel, who remained in detention while his case was heard, died of illness at Pasig General Hospital in April 2010 without a verdict. Neither man was ever convicted, and both are legally innocent of the killing.

No one has been found guilty of Nida Blanca's murder. A 2018 PEP retrospective, updated in 2021, described the case as unsolved. Searches of coverage from 2024 to 2026 found no reported new charges, arrests or court action.

Why the Case Matters

The case exposed the risks of building a prosecution largely on a single confession that was later withdrawn and allegedly coerced. It also became an important lesson in international cooperation. In a 2004 Philippine Law Journal article, writer Freddie P. Soto argued that the failure was not due to an unfair 1994 extradition treaty with the United States but to weak and poorly corroborated evidence. He noted that the US court had pointed to missing phone records, witness affidavits and building security records.

The lesson he drew for Philippine authorities was that an extradition request must rest on consistent, corroborated evidence that can withstand scrutiny in a foreign court, and that a weak first request does not bar a stronger second one. More than two decades later, the murder of one of the country's best-loved actresses remains unresolved.