POLICE are pinning their hopes on the results of the fingerprint examination to identify the second man in the fatal stabbing of a woman in Barangay Buanoy, Balamban, Cebu.
Two men broke into the house of Junalen Abendan, 40, who was sleeping with her five children, at dawn last Sunday.
One of them stabbed her at least 30 times, according to the post-mortem, said SPO1 Jose Villarino, chief investigator of the Balamban Police Station.
Police arrested the victim’s neighbor, 43-year-old Cesar Carmelotes, in a follow-up operation after Abendan’s daughter pointed to him as one of the perpetrators.
Villarino told Sun.Star Cebu they have lifted latent prints from Abendan’s house and they will turn these over to the PNP Crime Laboratory Office 7.
Denial
Carmelotes refused to cooperate during the interrogation, saying he had nothing to do with the crime.
“Dili gyud siya mostorya kinsa tong usa (He won’t name his accomplice),” Villarino said, adding that Carmelotes is a known drug user in the area.
The suspects had their heads covered when they entered Abendan’s house through the dirty kitchen past 1 a.m.
They proceeded to the daughter’s room and tied her with a cable wire. They pointed a knife at her and asked where the money was.
They also tied Abendan who was sleeping in the living room.
They brought mother and daughter to the bathroom. Abendan’s four other children were asleep in another room.
The daughter told police she and her mother tried to untie themselves when one of the suspects started stabbing Abendan.
The suspects fled the house and carted away almost P80,000 worth of cash and gadgets.
Positive ID
The daughter was able to free herself and immediately asked for help.
Villarino said after arriving at the scene, they noticed the daughter acting uneasy when she spotted Carmelotes with bystanders outside.
They asked her why and she said Carmelotes was the man who stabbed her mother.
Police again asked her to identify the alleged killer from behind a one-way mirror in the station and she confirmed that it was Carmelotes.
In a report over GMA 7’s Balitang Bisdak, the girl said her mother died helplessly before her. “Mura silag nagtadtad og ice (It looked like he was chopping ice),” she said.
Carmelotes, in a separate interview, denied killing Abendan. “Wa gyud ko kabuhat ana (I didn’t do it),” he said.
Complaints of robbery with homicide and for violating Republic Act 7610, or the anti-child abuse law, will be filed today against Carmelotes before the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office. (DSM)