Monday, July 28, 2008 Suspect pins murder on pal By Mia E. Abellana Sun.Star Staff Reporter
RICHARD Gudelosao, a day after his arrest for killing and chopping up the bodies of two women, began singing a different tune.
While he admitted he planned the murder of Maria Eva Mae Peligro and Gwendolyn Balasta last Saturday, he said yesterday that he only meant to scare Peligro by tying her up and threatening her.
He told Sun.Star Cebu that when Peligro got out of her room Thursday afternoon, his accomplice Jojo delos Reyes immediately pounced on her.
“Wa gyud ko katug gabii (I couldn’t sleep last night),” he said, adding that he and delos Reyes shared a cell at the Minglanilla Police Station.
As Richard pointed to delos Reyes as the one who planned the killing and who first attacked and chopped up Peligro, delos Reyes pointed back at Richard and added that Richard’s live-in partner Jean Antonette Medalle was in on the plan.
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Richard and Medalle claimed that Medalle tried to stop Richard and told him to leave her out of the plan. But delos Reyes said that Richard immediately called Medalle after the two died.
“Amigo man gihapon mi, bisag giapil niya akong asawa (We remain friends, even if he has dragged my wife into this),” Richard said.
Richard led the Scene of the Crime Operations and the Talisay City Police in locating the missing body parts of Peligro and Balasta.
After what seemed like a futile search, a female dog led members of the Talisay Rescue Emergency Assistance Team (Treat) to a chopped up torso in Sitio Campo 5, Barangay Mani-pis, Talisay City at 3 p.m.
Complete with rappelling gear, rescue workers were able to go down the steep slopes of the Manipis hills.
Richard had difficulty locating the places where he and delos Reyes dumped the garbage bags.
He explained that it was dark when he drove there Friday dawn but said he knew he stopped in areas that only had a few houses.
Supt. Romeo Perigo, chief of the Talisay City Police Station, said they were taking over the retrieval of the missing body parts to give the Ming-lanilla Police Station a
break.
3 more
Police, rescue workers and workers of the funeral home scoured the stretch of Manipis road but failed to locate other bags.
There were several false alarms after residents led the team to a part where a foul smell emanated. It turned out to be a dead dog.
As of yesterday afternoon, Perigo said they still had to account for three more bags.
A total of 13 bags were dumped in different areas of the Manipis Road all the way to Toledo City and the City of Naga.
The recovered body parts were taken to the St. Francis Funeral Homes on N. Bacalso Ave., Cebu City.
Minglanilla’s police found a major break in the investigation when Grace Ybañez reported last Friday night that her sister was missing. She happened to mention that her sister’s prospective brother-in-law drove a taxi. A witness had earlier seen a white taxi stop by the area where some body parts were dumped in Campo 8, Minglanilla.
Warning
Peligro’s family had reportedly warned her about Richard. She would have turned 25 on Aug. 6.
Joshua Ybañez, Pelig-ro’s brother-in-law, told Sun.Star Superbalita reporter Dennes Tabar last Saturday that he always felt that something was wrong with Richard.
He said he and his wife Grace, Peligro’s sister, told her that she did not have to live in Azienda Firenze. Aside from Richard’s odd behavior, he said Richard clearly resented Peligro.
However, he said it was Peligro’s choice to stay because her fiancé Felix, Richard’s brother, wanted her to stay. The house belongs to Felix, who is based in California, USA.
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Ybañez said there were times when packages would arrive for Peligro from the US and Richard and his family would only look while she opened these.
He said that when they could no longer contact Peligro, they already had a strange feeling.
Minglanilla Police Chief Romeo Santander also recalled that Grace told him she was worried and did not know how to tell her mother about Peligro’s state because their mother has a weak heart.
Ybañez said their family is grateful that the case has been solved.
Richard, for his part, said his sister in Bukidnon talked to his mother and is sure that his parents and his brother Felix already know what happened.
He said there were plans for them to return to Cebu.
As for Peligro’s family, they arrived from Bohol yesterday and reportedly went to the Minglanilla Police Station. However, they were not allowed to talk to Richard, delos Reyes or Medalle in case they became emotional.
