THE body of a 26-year-old female call center agent was found stuffed in two garbage bags in a hotel in Barangay Subangdaku, Mandaue City late Thursday night.

Homicide police said Lynn “Vi” Ebarita, a TeleTech employee, was stabbed 22 times by around three persons she had a drinking session with inside a room in the Nikkei Garden Hotel. She was believed to have been killed inside the comfort room around Jan. 18 or 19.

The killing appeared to be premeditated and investigators are looking at a “love triangle” as the possible motive of the attackers, said Homicide Section Chief Jorge Aniñon.

Police are communicating with the officemates and friends of Ebarita, a single parent of a seven-year-old child. The victim and her child lived with her parents in Barangay Cubacub, Mandaue City.

Hotel personnel discovered the body at 9 p.m. Thursday after a guest complained of the stench even after being transferred to another room.

Cleaned up

Ebarita’s body was stuffed in two garbage bags—one containing the lower limbs and another one the upper portions—that were left at the back and outside room 309. The room had no trace of blood.

Aniñon said packaging tape was used to seal the bags.

The neatness of the crime scene, the washing of the body, the disappearance of the victim’s personal belongings and cell phones, the use of fictitious names when registering and the use of garbage bags and tapes made Aniñon and his direct superior, Chief Insp. Eddie Recamara, conclude that the killing was carefully planned.

Aniñon said it was a certain Tina Panganiban, not the victim, who checked in at the hotel last Jan 18 at 1 p.m.

Panganiban reportedly paid P3,000 in two installments that afternoon for a two-day stay.

But initial investigation revealed that Ebarita was invited to go to the hotel by a friend named Edna, who reportedly booked the room using another name.

Missing

The victim’s officemates and close friends claimed they had not seen Edna personally. But they told the police that Edna was interested in the victim as she was the one who befriended her.

Police also learned there was another lady who was very much interested to see Ebarita and had scheduled a meeting with her before the Sinulog celebration on Jan. 18.
Ebarita reportedly arrived at the hotel in the evening of Jan. 18 to join Edna in the room.

At 1 a.m., they ordered beer and the waiter claimed seeing two ladies in the room when he served their order.

Some 30 minutes later, a room occupant ordered food. This time, the waiter said he only shoved the tray through the half-open door.

Full house

Investigators believe another person or persons joined the two ladies in the room since Ebarita’s officemate claimed receiving a text message from her saying that she was at the hotel and “full house na mi.”

On Jan, 20, a hotel staff found the room empty so he cleaned it.

According to a blotter report, one of the victim’s friends, Jonnelle Infectana, reported that Ebarita was missing. She claimed that she received a text message from Ebarita that she was at the hotel but did not find her there.

PNP Crime Laboratory medico-legal official Nestor Sator has yet to reveal his autopsy findings. But investigators believe she was already dead for four days when her
body was discovered.

Police also believe that Ebarita knew her attacker or attackers, said Aniñon, as she voluntarily went to the hotel.

The manner in which she was repeatedly stabbed in the different parts of the body indicated the anger of the perpetrator or perpetrators, he added. (OCP)

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(January 24, 2009 issue)
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