Murdered American woman to be cremated in the Philippines

murdered American
Tomi Michelle Masters. Photo via gofundme page set up by a family friend (link below).

The family of murdered American Tomi Michelle Masters have decided have her remains cremated in the Philippines.

Mandaluyong City Police chief Senior Superintendent Moises Villaceran said today (Thursday, December 3) that a liaison officer at the US Embassy in Manila had told him of the family’s intentions.

However, he also told online news site tempo.com that it was still unclear whether the family would come to the Philippines to collect the ashes or have them delivered.

“We are still waiting for the advice from the US Embassy,” he said.

Tomi, aged 23, was allegedly strangled before her body was stuffed into a cardboard box and dumped in the Pasig River on December 23. 

Her boyfriend Troy Woody, 21, and another American, Mir Islam, 22, are now detained on suspicion of murder.

The pair were identified by the driver of a Grab taxi, which they used to transport Tomi’s body to a bridge over the river. 

While the pair both admit to disposing of Tomi’s body, they are continuing to blame each other for her death.

As we previously reported, the suspects told police they were both CEOs of Luxr LLC, a Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency trading firm registered in Delaware.

Woody describes himself online as an “Early Crypto Investor” and has 250,000 followers on Instagram, where he bragged of high living and drug use.

According to FBI documents, Islam was previously arrested in the US for his part in setting up a ‘credit card fraud forum’. He has also served jail time for serial stalking and revealing private or identifying information about people on the internet (doxxing) and sending police SWAT teams to people’s houses (swatting).

The suspects are now detained at the Mandaluyong City Police custodial facility in a 20-square metre cell shared with 16 other detainees.

Sr. Supt. Villaceran said Tomi’s body was being kept at a funeral parlour in Ermita, Manila. 

A gofundme page has been set up by a friend of Tomi’s family in Indiana to help cover costs associated with her death. Meanwhile, in California, where Tomi had recently been living, a candlelit vigil was held in her memory earlier this week.

Follow our Facebook page for daily news updates