Sunday, July 27, 2008 Chop suspects fall By Mia E. Abellana Sun.Star Staff Reporter
A WOMAN who reported her sister missing led police to the identities of two women who were chopped up and whose heads were dumped in Barangay Campo 8, Minglanilla, Cebu last Friday.
Authorities arrested three persons for the murder of Eva Mae Peligro and Gwendolyn Balasta.
Richard Gudelosao, 27, his live-in partner Jean Antonette Medalle, 25, and Jojo delos Reyes, 23, were handcuffed Friday night.
The rest of the victims’ body parts were recovered in at least five different areas of the Manipis road, from Talisay City and Minglanilla town leading to Toledo City, and the City of Naga.
Peligro, who would have turned 25 on Aug. 6, was set to marry fiancé Felix Gudelosao later this year. She hails from Sierra-Bullones, Bohol.
Felix is Richard’s brother.
Anger and jealousy reportedly drove Richard to kill Peligro.
Senior Insp. Romeo Santander of the Minglanilla Police Station said it seemed to him that a higher being was trying to help solve the case.
He explained that they were still shocked by the discovery of human body parts in Campo 8 when a woman, who identified herself as Grace Ybañez, arrived at their station at 8 p.m. Friday.
Ybañez, he said, could not locate her sister Peligro despite calling both her cellular phones.
Felix reportedly contacted Ybañez from California, USA to inquire about Peligro because she was offline and was not returning his calls.
Ybañez went to a house in Azienda Firenze, Lawaan, Talisay where both Peligro and Richard’s family lived, but no one was home.
Conflict
Since she had also heard about the news of a woman’s body found chopped up earlier in the day, she mentioned to Santander that Peligro had a conflict with Richard.
When Santander learned that Richard drove a taxi, he remembered that witnesses in Campo 8 said a taxi dropped off the bags containing the body parts.
With this, Santander called up Azienda Firenze and told the guard to hold Richard if he enters the subdivision.
At 8:30 p.m., the guard called up the police station and informed them that Richard had arrived.
Police proceeded with Ybañez to the subdivision guardhouse, where Richard immediately told them that Peligro was missing and that he has been driving his cab looking for her.
Richard reportedly gave this information without being asked, which did not pass Santander’s attention.
Santander then checked the guard’s logbook and noticed that Richard left aboard the taxi at 3 a.m. Friday.
Those in Campo 8 said the taxi that dumped the body parts was seen past 4 a.m.
“After he (Richard) said that, something pushed me to proceed to the house,” Santander told Sun.Star Cebu.
When the door was opened, he said, a gentle breeze wafted an overwhelming smell of blood; it was then that he knew something was wrong.
He immediately called Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) Director Carmelo Valmoria, who told him to have the Scene of the Crime Operations inspect the house.
Cover
Santander recovered inside Richard’s taxi a grocery bag containing an air freshener aerosol spray can, insecticide, and rubbing alcohol.
They also recovered a kitchen knife, which was later established as the one used to chop the victims up.
Police likewise found a pail full of fish, which Santander believed would have been used to disguise the stench of blood.
Inside the house, Santander and his men found bloodstains in the second floor hallway leading to the bathroom.
Santander said he brought Richard to St. Francis Funeral Homes on N. Bacalso Ave., Cebu City, where the body parts were brought, just to see how he would react, but Richard allegedly remained composed.
Richard, though, said something that made Santander even more suspicious.
“Dili man na sila (Those are not Peligro and Balasta),” Richard had uttered.
That time, police thought that the body parts only belonged to one woman.
Santander said it then made sense to them that there were actually two persons because the chest area of the body was too large for the legs.
He said that while they were in the vehicle, Santander noted that Richard kept talking on slaughtering pigs.
Back in the Azienda Firenze house, the police chanced upon delos Reyes, who lived nearby as a caretaker for a house under construction.
Confession
Santander made a ruse and told delos Reyes that Richard already told them everything and that he, too, should confess.
“Diha na siya nisulti. Pero wala pa muangkon si Richard ato (That prompted de los Reyes to tell all, though that time Richard has not owned up to the crimes yet),” Santander explained.
When they faced each other, Richard blamed delos Reyes for squealing on them.
Medalle, Santander said, was picked up because they believe she was an accessory to the crimes.
While Medalle claimed she was in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City the whole time, Santander said she knew about the plan and that Richard even called to tell her that it has been accomplished.
He said Medalle cleaned up the house while delos Reyes and Richard left Talisay City to dump the body parts in secluded areas.
For three hours yesterday, delos Reyes and Richard aided the police in recovering the missing body pieces.
The first two bags they recovered that contained an upper limb and a leg were found in Sitio Campo 5, Barangay Manipis, Talisay.
The convoy stopped several times along the Manipis road but the police failed to find other bags.
The train of vehicles, though, aroused the curiosity of residents and motorcycle-for-hire drivers, who began following.
Richard and delos Reyes were like celebrities thronged by fans as the followers, some of whom took photos with their camera phones, grew in number.
The crowd of onlookers swelled when Peligro’s head was recovered in Campo 8. Just a few meters away, Balasta’s head was also found.
The convoy passed Barangays Cantabacco and Don Andres Soriano (DAS, formerly Lutopan) in Toledo City and turned left until it reached Sitio Quarry, Barangay Uling, City of Naga.
A chunk of a woman’s pelvic area and a thigh were recovered.
In Sitio Kalanggaman, Barangay Lutac, City of Naga, the police found Peligro and Balasta’s’ bloodied clothes.
3 more bags
Santander said they still have to recover three more bags. They believe they merely missed them somewhere in Manipis where the terrain was steep and difficult to negotiate.
With delos Reyes and Richard’s admission, Santander considered the case solved and closed.
Since the crime happened within their jurisdiction, Minglanilla police will be joining forces in filing a double murder case against the three suspects with the Talisay City police.
Asked on how he felt about the incident, Richard said he was sorry but could no longer do anything about it.
“Mangayo ko ug sorry nga ako nang nabuhat. Ako nalang ning bayran sa prisohan. Ngilngig bitaw gyud to among nabuhat (I am sorry for what I did. I will just have to pay for it in prison. I must admit we did a grisly act),” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
