Facebook Pics Help Philippines Cops Nab Murder Suspect

(July 28) -- Police in the Philippines say they were able to identify a suspected killer through photos he posted on his Facebook page.

Mark Dizon is a suspect in the slayings of nine people, including three foreigners. Witnesses were able to identify him using the photos he included with his profile on the social networking site, according to Agence France-Presse.

Police also used the website to discover that Dizon knew the daughter of one of the victims.

Dizon has not been charged and denies involvement in the killings.

Police escort murder suspect Mark Dizon in Angeles City, the Philippines, on July 28, 2010.

Ted Aljibe, AFP / Getty Images

Mark Dizon, a suspect in nine murders, appears in police custody Wednesday in Angeles City, the Philippines. Witnesses identified him using photos from Facebook.

"He had an account on Facebook and two witnesses positively identified him," Senior Superintendent Danilo Bautista, police chief in the city of Angeles, told AFP. "We have an airtight case against him. I believe it is ironclad."

Bautista said Dizon closed his Facebook account before his arrest, but by then it was too late.

Dizon is suspected of killing an American, a Briton, a Canadian and several Filipinos in a spree of robberies this month. All the victims were shot with a 9 mm pistol and electronic items were stolen from their homes, BBC News reported.

Dizon allegedly tried to pawn goods, including a laptop and cell phone taken from the house of Geoffrey Bennun, 60, a Canadian who was killed along with his Filipino girlfriend in a hotel room July 12.

The most recent killing took place last week, when American Albert Mitchell, a 70-year-old veteran of the U.S. Air Force, was killed along with his Filipino wife and three of their domestic staff.

Two people spotted the gunman as he fled. A friend of the Mitchells then looked up Dizon's Facebook profile and showed the profile photo to witnesses. They identified him as the man they saw, The Associated Press reported.

"He was fond of computers and this gave him away," Bautista told the AP.