What Really Happened To John Elwin?

Friends and family say that John Elwin was a well-liked, successful businessman who enjoyed the fruits of his labor on the island paradise of Hawaii.  They also say that his trip to the Philippines in May of 2006 was one that was partly for business and partly for pleasure.  Elwin made the journey with a long time friend, Hank Jacinto, whom he had met 12 years prior playing in Hawaii's elite polo community. 

The men were also business associates and police say that part of the reason Jacinto and Elwin journeyed to the Philippines was so John Elwin could look into purchasing a condo adjacent to Jacinto. 

Philippine authorities have only a few clues as to Elwin's whereabouts after he landed in their country, but they do know where he ended up -- murdered mysteriously in a remote province, sixty miles north of Manila. 

John Elwin's remains were discovered on May 14, 2006 with gunshot wounds to the head and body.  To make matters worse, Philippine police found no identification on Elwin making him an unidentified corpse.  At the scene, authorities found five shell casings and recovered Elwin's Seiko Diver's watch, a pair of eyeglasses, key and comb.

The Philippine National Police sent word to all the foreign embassies, but none had reports of missing nationals.  With the body still unidentified, Elwin was buried in a pauper's grave, marked "Amerikano" at about the same time that convicted con artist Henry Calucag, aka Hank Jacinto, returned to Hawaii...without his longtime friend.

Back in Hawaii, Elwin's friends feared the worst so they sent his dental records to authorities in Manila.  After the body was exhumed, police discovered that the dental records were a match and Elwin was positively identified.

Police in Hawaii say that three former business partners of Calucag have all embarked on similar trips to the Philippines under the auspices of buying property -- and none of them have ever returned home.  Arthur Young's disappearance back in 1990 was the first.  Douglas Ho left with Calucag in 2004 and was reported missing by his family in January 2005.  The third associate was John Elwin.

Investigators on the Calucag case say he's a master con artist who may be responsible for swindling millions of dollars in cash and property away from their rightful owners. In September of 2007, Calucag was sentenced to 30 years in prison with a mandatory 10 year minimum prison term stemming from a variety of identity theft related charges. 

While investigators can certainly pinpoint Calucag's lengthy trail of theft and fraud in the last two decades, what they're currently asking questions about is Calucag's missing business associates.  Police are hoping the public can assist the ongoing investigation into what exactly became of Arthur Young and Douglas Ho, and what, if anything, did Henry Jacinto Calucag have to do with these men's disappearances?  And furthermore, cops want to know how it was that John Elwin came to be murdered, supposedly while sightseeing in the Philippines with Henry Calucag?

In November 2006, America's Most Wanted journeyed to the Philippines in hopes of finding out more about what happened to John Elwin.  AMW also visited the place where John Elwin's body was found  on May 14, 2006.

The rural, mountainous area six hours north of Manila is best known for its rice fields and New People's Army insurgents making the need for police protection a necessity.

Neighbor Estelita Agbayani lives up the road from where John Elwin was killed and his body dumped.  Estelita was the only person with any account of anything out of the ordinary on the night John Elwin was murdered.  She tells AMW that around 4am she heard three male voices speaking in a hurried manner.  Moments later she heard a car speeding off into the night.

Police say she's the only witness to what could have been Elwin's killers dumping the body and making their getaway.