A 25-YEAR-OLD man admitted he killed his 17-year-old co-worker in Mandaue City earlier this week because she rejected him.
A police team walked at least 30 minutes in a hilly portion of Asturias, at least 64 kilometers from the crime scene, before they found rape with homicide suspect Remelito Serogwas.
He was drinking tuba with his friends by the side of the road. He immediately surrendered when he saw the Armalite-wielding team, lead by Asturias Police Chief Gerald Pilare and Insp. Ramil Morpos of the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO).
Both the suspect and victim worked for a junk shop in Barangay Basak, Mandaue City, which belongs to Alvin Martinez Abayan and his wife Jocelyn.
Serogwas had worked with the shop for three months, until the attack. He is now detained in the Basak Police Station.
Investigators said that around 1 a.m. last Friday, the suspect allegedly barged inside the unlocked room of helper Rowena Giwanon Rodrigo, 17, and raped her.
Serogwas, however, told Morpos the girl did not resist, but afterwards, threatened to report him to their employer.
So he took a hammer and struck her head twice, then left for Asturias at 2 a.m. Friday.
Victim Rodrigo, from Barangay Taba-aw in Tabogon town, was hired just four days before she was killed.
When her blood-soaked body was discovered in the morning and the crime was reported to the Investigation and Detective Management Bureau (IDMB), the only lead Morpos had was that the suspect was named Litoy. They had no address.
Luckily, police learned from other workers that Litoy had a relative in the neighboring Barangay Labogon. From her, they got his full name and home address.
Morpos immediately proceeded to Asturias and asked the local police for help. They searched the outskirts where Serogwas’s relatives live, and from them learned the suspect was out visiting other relatives and drinking liquor.
With the local police as guides, Morpos and SPO1 Kerwin Bejer from the IDMB found the suspect. Morpos was also accompanied by the junk shop owner’s son, who identified the suspect.
On their way back to Mandaue City, the suspect allegedly told his arresting officers he offered the victim his love, but she rejected him. Hurt, he attacked her that same night.