Three suspects have been arrested in connection with the killing of an Old Dominion University professor at his home in the central Philippines, police said Thursday.
Three men broke into the house of Kent Carpenter, 73, in the coastal town of Sibulan in Negros Oriental province during a suspected robbery on Sunday. One of them is alleged to have shot the scientist in the head with a handgun as he sat on a sofa, police officials said. Another suspect forced Carpenter’s Filipino companion into a room and raped her.
The suspects took a laptop, an unspecified amount of cash and a backpack before fleeing, national police spokesperson Col. Allen Rae Co said. The third man is being hunted, Co told a news conference, adding that investigators were trying to determine why the suspects shot Carpenter.
Watch previous coverage: Old Dominion University professor shot dead in the Philippines
A fourth suspect, who acted as a lookout outside the property, was arrested after surrendering to police and allegedly provided crucial details of the crime.
One of those arrested had previously been hired by Carpenter to do some carpentry work in his house, Co said, adding that the arrested suspects include the alleged gunman.
“All indicators as of now point to the fact that the attack was not connected to (the American’s) work,” Co told reporters. “It was really a planned robbery. So, we are still verifying why they killed the American marine biologist.”
Several U.S. and Philippine environment and biodiversity centers and universities have expressed shock over Carpenter’s violent death.
Laurie Camp, who first met Carpenter as a marine biology student at ODU in the 2000s before later working alongside him at the university, spoke to News 3 about the emotions she felt when she learned of Carpenter's death.
"I logged in my computer and went to the news site, and there's this picture," Camp said. "When I read the story, I was shocked."
Old Dominion University President Brian Hemphill said in a statement that Carpenter's death "was the direct result of a violent act" and noted that the investigation remains ongoing.
Carpenter had spent nearly three decades teaching biological sciences at Old Dominion after joining the faculty in 1996. He was in the Philippines conducting research and preparing for his retirement, which had been planned for September.
Hemphill described Carpenter as a mentor whose influence stretched well beyond campus through his work with students, colleagues and the scientific community. He said Carpenter dedicated his career to expanding understanding of the world's oceans while protecting some of its most vulnerable ecosystems.
For Camp, Carpenter stood out because of the way he treated students.
"He was just a very gentle, very laid-back individual and made me feel very comfortable," she said. "He was always willing to go into the details and really sit with you and talk with you and get you through what he was trying to teach."
Carpenter had testified for the Philippine government when it took China to international arbitration over longstanding disputes in the South China Sea. His testimony as a biodiversity expert centered on the environmental impact of China’s island-building and fishing activities in the disputed waters, according to former Philippine officials who had knowledge of his contribution.
The arbitration panel in The Hague invalidated China’s expansive claims and pointed out the environmental damage caused by China’s construction of islands in the disputed waters in a July 2016 decision. China, however, questioned the panel’s jurisdiction, refused to participate in the arbitration and rejected its ruling as a sham.
His research — which focused on the Philippines and the Coral Triangle between the Indian and Pacific oceans — shaped conservation efforts around the world, officials of the American university said. They said he was on an extended research assignment in the Philippines and planned to retire in September.
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