Maid leaps to death from condo's 9th floor

A 42-year-old housemaid, along with her pet dog, was believed to have leapt to death from the ninth floor of a condominium in Lahug last Monday noon.

Homicide Section investigators identified the victim as Juanita Jayme, of barangay Corazon, Catmon town who worked for an American national identified as Collete Goldstein for over 17 years.

SPO1 Desiderio Mendaros of the Homicide section told The FREEMAN that it was the duty lobby guard Cristulo Desucatan who saw the victim and her dog sprawled at the eastside garden of Tower 2 of the condominium unit.

The victim suffered fatal injuries on her back and head and also her dog after falling that high from where she worked.

Mendaros said the victim's employer was not around when the incident happened. She was last seen alive with a companion identified only as a certain Daphne who works as part-time cook for her employer.

Mendaros also mentioned that based on the initial investigation with Daphne and the maid's husband Carlos Jayme, Juanita was "suffering from mental disorder."

Based on the medical certificate reportedly shown them by Daphne that was issued September 5 last year, she was found to have been suffering a "major depressive disorder with psychiatric features as a result of paranoia after her previous fight with her husband."

Police found a two-page letter reportedly written by the victim before she jumped out of the condo unit stating her suspicion that "someone is planning to kill her", but the letter didn't bear the signature of the victim and to whom it is addressed.

Police recovered eleven P500 bills and two P1,000 bills from the victim.

Police then asked the medico legal officer of the PNP Crime Laboratory to have the body autopsied to verify if there was foul play on her death. - Edwin Ian Melecio