A SENIOR citizen and his nephew were arrested after being accused of murder 16 years ago in Barangay Bairan, Asturias town.
The personnel of Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Cebu City Field Unit served the arrest warrant issued by retired judge Gabriel Ingles of Regional Trial Court branch 59 based in Toledo City on March 26, 2008 that led to the arrest of the suspect, Elias Canu-og Artajo, 66, who was selling soya milk (taho) in Natalio Bacalso Avenue, Barangay Sambag 1, Cebu City at 11:38 a.m. on Monday, March 13, 2023.
His nephew, Benedicto Morre Artajo, 48, was apprehended later at 2:18 p.m. in Purok Bayabas, Barangay Lamac, Pinamungajan town, midwest Cebu.
The two have been implicated in the murder of their neighbor, Generoso Fernandez, on September 2, 2007.
Elias and Benedicto were placed on the second and third most wanted list in the provincial level respectively as a result of the offense.
After the incident, Elias moved to Cebu City and started selling taho to help finance his daily needs.
Benedicto, on the other hand, escaped to Pinamungajan after learning that he was included in the murder case.
While there, he disguised himself as “Reneboy” to avoid detection.
During police interrogation, Elias said Benedicto was not involved in the crime, saying he just borrowed his knife to kill Fernandez and chop his body.
He said Fernandez got angry at him and wanted to kill him after he seized the knife from the victim during a market day in their barangay.
Elias claimed that on the night of the incident, three persons, including Fernandez, attacked him and pointed a knife at him in a dark area of Barangay Bairan.
He said that after he overpowered Fernandez, he punched him and stabbed him with his nephew’s bolo knife.
Elias begged the victim's family for forgiveness.
He said he was willing to serve his jail sentence to pay for his crime. (AYB, TPT)