Sister: Death of Strunk an accident, not suicide
Nida Blanca’s husband Roger “Rod” Strunk likely died more from an accident than from suicide, Strunk’s sister told a California newspaper on Saturday (US time).
Strunk’s sister Sharry Grove told Tracy Press that suicide was not something Strunk was likely to do.
“That wouldn’t have been something that Roger would have done … We really feel like it would have been an accident,” she said.
Grove said that it makes no sense that her brother would try to commit suicide by jumping from a second-story balcony, a drop of about 20 feet.
“I don’t know how they came up with that. That would be very out of character for my brother,” she said.
“He went through a lot of tough times, but suicide isn’t something Roger would do,” she added.
Grove said no funeral services are planned, but a memorial service is tentatively planned for July 29 at Good Shepherd Church in Tracy.
Tracy police earlier reported that Strunk’s death Wednesday morning appeared to be a suicide.
His body was found in the parking lot of the Tracy Inn, next to the breezeway between Central Avenue and the rear parking lot.
Detective Dean Hicks, who investigated Strunk’s death, said a woman reported finding him on the ground, but apparently nobody saw him fall.
Strunk was found right below the balcony of the room where he had been staying for the previous three days, and he apparently hit his head on the pavement.
While Strunk did not leave a note, investigators said they found a chair against the wall along the exterior edge of the balcony.
Hicks said shoe prints on the chair indicate that Strunk was standing on the chair right before he went over the wall.
Strunk had an early career in the US as a singer, recording artist and actor. In 1979, he moved to the Philippines where he met and married Blanca.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) charged Strunk in 2002 for Blanca’s murder, saying he had her killed for fear she would disinherit him.
But before he could be charged, Strunk left for the United States, supposedly to care for his mother. His mother has since died.
In the US, Strunk recently remarried, but that marriage broke up within a few months.
A friend said that more recently he was helping plan a 50-year reunion for Tracy High School’s Class of 1957.
