THE autopsy report revealed that Dailyn Melecio had been stabbed dead before her husband set their house in Barangay Liburon, Carcar City on fire with her inside it on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020.
Dr. Benjamin Lara, medico-legal officer of the PNP Crime Laboratory, said the victim was stabbed 10 times: seven times in the lungs and three times in the liver.
She might have had more stab wounds, but it was hard to determine because of her charred body, he said.
Dailyn’s remains were sent to her hometown of Mabinay in Negros Oriental on Tuesday, Jan. 28.
According to Staff Sgt. Regie Amad of the Carcar Police Station, the suspect, Dailyn’s husband Romnick, was charged with parricide.
The Carcar City police believe Romnick burned their house to cover up his wife’s murder. The couple had reportedly been fighting since morning of that day.
Neighbors saved their five-month-old child from their burning house.
Abigail Bogay, head of the Carcar City Social Welfare and Services, told Superbalita Cebu that the child was turned over to Dailyn’s mother, Rodelia Alac-ac.
Alac-ac arrived in Carcar City, Cebu from Negros Oriental with her children, claiming to be the victim’s mother. She had to undergo counseling after her trauma upon learning of her daughter’s death.
After the identity of the grandmother was verified, the woman was given custody of the child.
Bogay said Mayor Mercedita Apura paid for Dailyn’s coffin, while city councilors came up with P15,000 as financial assistance for her family.
Alac-ac, in an interview, said she still couldn’t believe that her son-in-law was responsible for her daughter’s death, adding that she couldn’t forgive Romnick for taking her daughter’s life.
Alac-ac said she could not fathom what was going through the suspect’s mind to commit such a “heinous” crime. (BBT / RGT)