Christmas rob-slay of 72 yr. old woman: Two of three suspects appear to clear their names

The driver and the female househelp who were earlier tagged among three possible suspects in the robbery and killing of their 72-year-old employer, reportedly last Christmas Eve, went to the City Police headquarters yesterday to clear their names.

The appearance of the two, Bienvenido Capacion and Adelina "Rose" Bayno, at the police homicide section office left only the caregiver, Noe Madrista, as the last possible suspect to the crime who has yet to show up.

The three were earlier tagged as the suspects when they disappeared after their employer, Ramona Ranay, was found brutally murdered inside her house and robbed of her money.

Ranay's remains, which was already found in a state of decomposition, was found with several stab wounds in her neck, body, face and head. The money she had from selling her truck early last month also disappeared from her closet, her relatives told the police.

Police investigators surmised that she could have been killed three days earlier, which could be between the night of December 24 or dawn of December 25.

Capacion, when interviewed by The Freeman, claimed that he last saw the victim alive on the evening of December 24 allegedly with Madrista.

Capacion said that, by the next day, he and his family went to their province to spend the holidays but he had to return to the city upon hearing the news that her employer was robbed and killed.

Capacion is the driver of the Ranay's passenger jeepney, but he never stayed in the latter's house and went there only to take the jeepney out and return it later in the day.

Bayno, for her part, claimed that she went to her in-laws in Bohol but was surprised upon learning that she was tagged as one of three suspects to the rob-slay of her employer.

Bayno said this prompted her to return to Cebu to clear her name. She said she was still new to the Ranay's household, and had worked as househelp for only two months before the killing.

SPO2 Jay Yballe said that the statements of the two all pointed to Madrista who, to this day, did not show up to cause him to miss even the funeral of his employer.

Yballe added that Bayno told them that before she left for Bohol, she allegedly saw Madrista quarreling with Ranay due to the latter's refusal to let him go out of the house for a stroll.

Police also learned that Madrista was the only one of the three employees who knew well the details of the victim's house considering that he had stayed there longer than the househelp.

Another investigator on the case, SPO3 Alex Dacua, added that Bayno would be subjected to a polygraph, or a lie-detector test, to clear doubts from her statements.

The police had taken the testimonial evidences from Capacion and Bayno in preparation for the filing of charges for robbery with homicide against Madrista. - Edwin Ian Melecio/RAE