ILOILO – Ariza Marie Mayormente – the 16-year-old Grade 10 student who was stabbed to death in their house in Cabatuan on the eve of Valentine’s Day – was not raped, autopsy results showed.
She died of 18 stab wounds, including those on her hands, the results added.
“It’s possible that the victim was able to hold the knife that’s why she had lacerations on her left hand,” said Dr. Joe Martin Fuentes, medico legal officer of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6).
The 25-year-old Gringgo “Niko” Morales of Barangay Bagongbong, Dueñas confessed to the crime. He surrendered to the police station of Calinog on Friday afternoon.
According to Morales, he was drunk when he attacked the senior high school student of Cabatuan National Comprehensive High School using a 15-inch knife that was now in the custody of the police.
The suspect denied raping the teenager.
Cabatuan police chief Senior Inspector Sullen Domingo said murder and robbery charges await Morales.
The Cabatuan police turned to Morales after a neighbor in Zacarias Subdivision came to them with information on the suspect.
According to this witness whose identity the Cabatuan police refused to reveal, he saw Morales on a vacant lot at the back of the Mayormente house around 10:20 p.m. on Feb. 13.
“He found this strange, according to the witness, knowing that the house where Morales was temporarily staying was in front of the Mayormente house,” said Domingo.
The victim was an only child. Marilou Mayormente found her daughter dead in the teenager’s bedroom around 5:45 a.m. on Feb. 14.
Ariza Marie was last seen alive by her father around 9 p.m. on Feb. 13 in their house. He left her alone as he had to help Marilou close their eatery at the Cabatuan public market.
The parents returned to the house from their carinderia around 10 p.m. and did not bother to check their daughter – whom they presumed was already sleeping in her bedroom – despite noticing that their house’s back door was ajar, according to Domingo.
Meanwhile, Morales’ wife Arlene and his father Peter were both detained in the lockup cell of the Cabatuan police station for obstruction of justice.
Domingo said Peter and Arlene were arrested after they denied they know the suspect’s whereabouts.
“They both know what the suspect did to the victim but they were not cooperative when we conducted an investigation,” said Domingo./PN
