A WIDOW was found dead in a grassy area in Barangay Basdiot, Moalboal town in southwest Cebu Monday afternoon, March 4, 2024.
The victim, identified as Gomersinda Deniega Avenido, 75, sustained several hack wounds, and her left arm and head were cut off.
Residents in the area found her body covered by a tarpaulin.
Police later identified the suspect through a witness as Reno Arcelo Tereso alias Butyok, 36, single, who was occupying a portion of the land owned by the victim.
Police Captain Claudio Gaco, the chief of Moalboal Police Station, said that through the help of a witness, they were able to arrest Tereso, who was waiting for a bus ride in front of a mall in Poblacion East Moalboal at around 7 p.m. on the said day.
During police interrogation, the suspect confessed to the crime.
Tereso told police that he killed Avenido due to personal grudge, as the victim reportedly kept on telling him to leave the place.
According to a niece of the victim’s husband, who asked not to be named, Avenido converted her pig pen into a makeshift house and lent it to Terero since it was empty.
She said that her aunt used to keep pigs in the pig enclosure and have them killed as an offering for the barangay's fiesta celebration every April.
However, on the day of the incident, the victim reportedly requested the suspect to leave since she would be using the pig pen to rear pigs that she would slaughter for their fiesta the following month.
This infuriated the suspect, who then attacked the victim.
She claimed that the victim was an extremely honest individual who speaks her mind without hesitation, even if it offends someone else.
She stated that prior to the incident, the victim had visited their home to buy a roasted chicken sold by their father.
After lunch, the victim went to the back of the pig pen to pasture the goats there.
However, her younger brother discovered her body later on, with both of its arms and head already severed.
“Kay nakamata na sya kay padung na sya duty ba nya nangita silang tiya kay wala man sa ilaha, Nakit-an nila sa unahan abi nilag giatake pag abli niya wala namay ulo,” she explained.
(When he woke up for work, they looked for aunt because she was not in their house. They saw her laying in the distance, thinking that she was having a heart attack, but when they lifted the tarpaulin, her head was already gone).
The younger brother could not believe that this could be done by the suspect as their relationship had been harmonious since Butyok had moved into the neighborhood.
“Silingan man jud mi, Naa syay something nga ig-storya niya mag-imagine siya’g mga butang,” she disclosed.
(We live next door. He had a tendency to imagine things when he told stories).
Since Avenido's children could not handle witnessing her terrible demise, her remains was incinerated.
The victim, who had been widowed for about eight years, had adopted a teenage girl who was meant to take care of the goat pasturing, but since it was Monday, the victim had to handle the household chores. (CDF, DVG, TPT)