ON the day she turned 44, a mother of two was found dead inside her car parked just outside their house in Pajo, Lapu-Lapu City.
Lynette Tagimacruz Stone was found dead on the driver’s seat of her green Honda Fit, which was parked outside their house on Ybanez St. in Barangay Pajo early yesterday morning.
Also yesterday morning in Cebu City, a man arrested for domestic violence took his own life inside the detention cell of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 7.
Viernisito Gubalane, 47, was found hanging from the ceiling at 7:20 a.m., around the same time Stone was found dead.
Her father Edgar Tagimacruz found her lifeless past 7 a.m. She had blood on her nose.
In the absence of a gunshot wound, Stone’s body will be subjected to an autopsy to find out if she had killed herself.
A .38 revolver was found inside the vehicle.
Senior Insp. Zenaido Pastorfide Jr., chief of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office’s homicide section, said the bullet could be lodged inside Stone’s head.
Because of blood found on the gun’s barrel, it is possible that she shot herself in the mouth, he told Sun.Star Cebu.
A paraffin test will be conducted to check for powder burns on Stone. The firearm will also be subjected to a ballistic test.
The woman, who was married to a foreigner, got back in Cebu from Dumaguete City last Wednesday with her children.
Pastorfide said Stone had asked permission from her father to go out with her friends Wednesday night.
Some neighbors noticed that the vehicle arrived at 2 a.m. Thursday, but no one got out of the car.
Stone would sometimes sleep inside the car, especially when she was drunk, Pastorfide said.
Tagimacruz woke up early yesterday and was on his way to buy bread from a nearby store when he noticed his daughter, who appeared to be asleep, inside the car.
He tried to wake her up, but she didn’t respond. This prompted him to use a duplicate key to open the car door.
When he unlocked the door, he saw his daughter with blood on her nose. He called for help and brought her to the Lapu-Lapu District Hospital.
Stone was declared dead on arrival.
Police found a .38 revolver with five live bullets and an empty shell inside the car.
Stone’s family told the police that as far as they knew, Stone did not own a gun.
She was not known to have enemies and neither had she mentioned having problems, that was why her family was shocked by her death, Pastorfide said.
Meanwhile at the CIDG 7, detainee Gubalane, who was arrested for domestic violence and illegal possession of firearms, allegedly took his own life inside the detention cell.
Gubalane was found dead in the bathroom with a tire wire coiled around his neck around 7:20 a.m. yesterday.
Before Gubalane’s arrest, his wife, Magdalena Gubalane, 44, reported to the CIDG 7 that he had threatened to kill her.
Magdalena said she was asleep when her husband came home drunk Wednesday dawn. He also seemed high on illegal drugs.
She said that she has been battered since 1996 and there were times when her husband poked a gun at her in front of their children.
Last Wednesday, when she asked her husband what his problem was, Gubalane took out his gun and cocked it, and told her he would kill her and their children, aged 10 and four.
She shouted for help and hid in one corner of the house. She then sought help from the barangay tanod, who called the police.
The CIDG 7 arrested Gubalane. The police recovered a .38 revolver without a serial number, six bullets and three knives from him.
His wife filed complaints for violation of the Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act, grave threats and violation of the election gun ban.
SPO4 Rey Cuyos of the Cebu City Police Office’s homicide section recovered a padlock
and a wire from the CIDG detention cell.
Gubalane used a tire wire, which was used as a clothesline, to hang himself. DSM/CNU Intern Imee Marie M. Tadiamon