CHARIE Mae Mancia rented a room in a boarding house in Barangay Tinago, Cebu City in August so she wouldn't be late for her classes.
On Sunday, November 4, she was stabbed dead after she chanced upon suspected thief Emelito Familar Jr. inside her room.
On Tuesday morning, November 6, Familar was arrested hiding in a parked trailer in Mandaue City.
He will be facing a robbery with homicide complaint before the city prosecutor's office.
The Cebu City Council commended the Waterfront Police Station for his arrest.
The suspect was located after his uncle divulge his whereabouts to Police Officer 1 (PO1) Edmundo Rizarri of the Abellana Police Station.
Familar reportedly went to his relatives in Lapu-Lapu City first, but they told him to surrender. He sought out relatives in the City of Naga and asked them for a boat fare to Dumaguete City. Again, he was turned down.
The suspect decided to seek refuge in his uncle's house in Mandaue City.
SPO3 Ruth Violango, Waterfront Police Station 3 investigator, said Familar and Mancia did not have a relationship.
She said the suspect's only plan was to steal from Mancia, but it spiraled into murder after the victim found him inside her room.
Familar was released from the Cebu City Jail last August after serving time for a theft case.
Familar allegedly stole Mancia's cell phone and gave it to his friend, who, out of fear, buried the device in a pot.
The friend told the police that Mancia changed his bloodied clothes in his house. Afterward, Familar stole a neighbor's bicycle and fled the neighborhood. The gadget was recovered by the police after Familar's arrest.
"Mosuyop na siya (Familar is a shabu user). Mosuyop man pod gani ko (So am I)," the friend said.
Mancia's aunt, Josephine Antig, confronted Familar inside the Waterfront Police Station.
"Nganong gibuhat man to nimo, Dong (Why did you do it)? Unsa may sala sa akong pag-umangkon nimo (What did my niece do to you)?" Antig asked the suspect, her voice and hands trembling.
Silence was the only reply she got from Familar, who was teased by half-naked detainees. The suspect then covered his face with a towel.
Antig, in an interview with reporters, said she would like Familar to suffer the same fate her niece suffered in his hands.
"Lisod kaayo ang iyang pagkapatay, uy. Sobra pa sa baboy. Gihiwa-hiwa (She was brutally murdered)," she said. "Sakit kaayo. Morag kumoton imong dughan magtan-aw ka sa bata (It broke my heart when I saw her body)."
Mancia used to live with her mother in Lapu-Lapu City, but the traffic often made her late for her classes in a Cebu City university.
The victim, who also worked part-time at a pizza parlor, had assured her mother that she was safe in Tinago.
Her mother did not like the idea of Mancia living away from home. Plus the money she spent on rent could have been deposited in the bank.
She only relented when Mancia told her she needed to save her grades.
Antig shouldered Mancia's tuition when the latter was still studying in high school in Talisay City.
"She was a good kid," she said in Cebuano.
Mancia's remains were brought to her home village in Tampaan, Aloguinsan on Monday, November 5.
In a separate interview, Familar denied he killed Mancia, saying he was in a wake of deceased neighbor on Saturday night, November 3.
The suspect, however, admitted during a police interrogation that he committed the murder.
Familar's mother, who asked not be named, thanked the police for arresting her son, who had previous theft cases.
Violango said they obtained witnesses who identified Familar as the man who went into Mancia's room.