Saturday, December 29, 2007
Swiss magician killed
A 70-YEAR-OLD Swiss national was found dead in his rented apartment in Barangay Camputhaw, Cebu City yesterday afternoon.
Roger Bertschinger, a magician for a bar at the North Reclamation Area, was discovered by his housekeeper Josephine Hedlon, 36, around 4 p.m. yesterday.
Hedlon reported his death to the police and to the apartment’s owner, Cynthia Olmelia.
In his room upstairs, Bertschinger was face down and naked, bathed in a pool of blood, on the floor between his waterbed and his exercise equipment.
His computer was still on, but his cellular phone was missing.
Outside, his two hungry dogs silently paced the empty garage. His white Toyota Corolla (THU 342) was also gone.
Police suspected that Bertschinger was already dead Thursday dawn since large amounts of his blood had already dried up.
Bertschinger had multiple stab wounds in the back and chest.
According to SPO4 Alex Dacua of the Cebu City Police Office Homicide Section, they recovered two knives in the victim’s room—one is long and covered with blood and the other is small and clean.
Dacua believes Bertschinger was asleep when he was stabbed because there were no signs of a struggle at the scene.
Judging from the number and size of the stab wounds, it is possible that there were two persons involved, he added.
The Homicide Section is not ruling out robbery as a motive for the killing.
The victim’s wife Haide Lisa Quijano Bertschinger resides in Switzerland. They have no children.
Hedlon told police and media that she and her employer were decorating and painting some parts of the apartment last Wednesday.
Hedlon lives in Tabunok, Talisay City. She would only come in if Bertschinger needed her to clean the house. That had been their arrangement for several years, she said.
Olmelia, the apart-ment’s owner, would only visit to collect rent and utility bills.
The victim previously rented an apartment in Barangay Lahug, where Hedlon also served as housekeeper.
Hedlon and a former housekeeper named Rose who happened to drop by the crime scene on her way to visit a boyfriend said Bertschinger had a girlfriend in Tuburan, Cebu.
They do not know, however, where the girlfriend resides in the city. (NRC)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (December 29, 2007 issue)
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