Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Elderly couple tortured, killed by robbers
By Mia E. Abellana
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
A couple in their seventies was disrobed, hogtied and then killed in their home in a mountain barangay of Tabogon town.
Rufo Estribor Gulban, 79, and Nemesia Magla-sang Gulban, 74, were found several meters away from their house in Sitio Lub-ang, Barangay Managase Sunday morning, 15 kilometers away from the town proper.
Both had their hands tied behind their backs, with the rope connected to another knot around their necks.
Called out
They were then tied to a banana tree.
According to their only neighbor, a 60-year-old woman, she heard Neme-sia call out Rufo’s name Saturday night.
She thought nothing of it, thinking they were having an argument.
The next day, when she noticed that the couple did not come out of their house, she decided to drop by and see how they were doing.
She noticed that a well nearby seemed to have bloodstains around it.
Alarmed, she ran and called for help from the nearest residence and asked them to help look for the couple.
They located Nemesia just a hundred meters away.
Straight ahead, near a river, they found Rufo.
SPO2 Samuel Malazarte believes robbery was the motive for the killing.
He admitted that they had no witnesses, but said they have their suspicions on a group of persons.
Dr. Flordeliza Arrogante, municipal health officer, said the two died of strangulation.
Malazarte noted the entire house was in disarray.
Malazarte said that since the victims were the only occupants in the house, it’s difficult to say if anything was missing.
They were caretakers of a sugarcane plantation and sold farm animals on the side.
The couple’s children live in the city.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (April 5, 2006 issue)
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