BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA and RUBY SILUBRICO
BACOLOD City – Four members of a family were bludgeoned to death in Barangay Tangub here. Their bodies were found rotting within the perimeter of their home in Gardenville Subdivision yesterday around 10 a.m.
According to local policemen, the victims sustained severe head injuries likely sustained from repeated clubbing or bashing. They were Jocelyn Nombre, 60; Gemma Espinosa, 68; Michael Espinosa, 30; and Precious Espinosa, 6.
The cadavers were found by Jona Delos Santos, sister of Nombre’s husband Jonel, a seafarer.
Delos Santos told the police her brother Jonel asked her to check on his wife because Jocelyn had not been answering his phone calls and messages since Sunday, April 4.
An overwhelming stench greeted her as she entered the gate, said delos Santos, and the kitchen door was ajar.
According to Police Major Joery Puerto, commander of Police Station 8, the bodies were covered either in blankets or cardboard boxes when found. These were immediately brought to a local mortuary for autopsy.
There may be at least two suspects, Puerto said, “as some of the bodies have clearly been dragged or moved from where they were attacked.”
Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) gathered evidence, and swabs have been taken for DNA testing.
The victims were believed to have been dead for at least two to three days already.
SOCO recovered a mobile phone; this would be scrutinized.
Neighbors were interviewed. Other than the foul smell, they said they did not hear any noise which may suggest a struggle or altercation in the Nombre house.
Police ruled out robbery. The victims’ valuables have all been accounted for.
No closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage was recovered. The security camera outside the victims’ home was only a decoy, it turned out.
The CCTV of a nearby warehouse, on the other hand, was defective.
Who may have butchered the family?
The police initially named a person of interest – Christian “Don-don” Tulot, a relative from Iloilo province who made recent several visits to the house.
Tulot was traced yesterday to Barangay Bunga, Don Salvador Benedicto, Negros Occidental. Police invited him for questioning.
When frisked, he yielded a sachet of suspected shabu.
Tulot denied it was his but he admitted to being a user.
He was eventually considered a suspect and taken to Police Station 8 here.
Tulot’s neighbors in Don Salvador Benedicto alleged that the man “had been acting suspiciously” since Sunday.
Police Brigadier General Rolando Miranda already ordered BCPO director Police Colonel Manuel Placido to immediately solve the case.
“Dapat managot ang sinumang may kagagawan ng karumal-dumal na krimen na ito,” Miranda said./PN