He Made Inferences To The Killing: Possible suspect in Ruby slay held

Police now have in custody a possible suspect in the senseless killing of senior Cebu Doctors University nursing student Ruby Jade Ruba last Wednesday.

Reynaldo Bayabado, 41, a resident of Pardo in Cebu City, was arrested by police in Subangdaku, Mandaue City yesterday dawn after a certain Rodulfo Bohol complained that Bayabado threatened to kill him if he did not give him some money.

But it was how Bayabado issued the threat that made police in Cebu City interested in him as a suspect.

According to a police report at the Subangdaku police station, Bohol quoted Bayabado as telling him that if he did not give him any money, he might suffer the same fate as that of the nursing student.

Interestingly, Bayabado is a former police informant.

Cebu City police chief Patrocinio Comendador told reporters that Task Force Ruby Jade, the composite team created to solve the killing of Ruby, is considering Bayabado as a possible suspect because of what he said in trying to extort money from Bohol and threatening to kill him.

“According to the report, he threatened to kill Bohol if he did not give in to his demand, telling him ‘ basin maparehas ka adtong estudyante sa nursing ‘ ( maybe you will suffer the same fate as that nursing student ), “ Comendador said.

Ruby, 20, a native of Macrohon, Southern Leyte, was to graduate this coming March 30 along with some 500 members of her class.

Instead she was killed by one of two men on a motorcycle who simply wanted her cellphone.

Ruby was with a female classmate around midnight of Wednesday outside a dorm on Gov. Roa Street, trying to borrow an adoptor for a laptop computer from another classmate which they needed to use in preparing a project when the two men passed by on a motorcycle and saw her using her cellphone.

The two men stopped and one of them pulled out a gun. On seeing the firearm, the girls tried to run for safety but the man fired and hit Ruby in the back.

The men fled after taking the cellphone, while Ruby died not long after being taken to the nearby Cebu Doctors Hospital.

Investigators later determined that Ruby was shot with a .38 caliber revolver, the same type of gun taken from Bayabado when he was arrested by a team of Subangdaku policemen led by Inspector George Aninon.

Bayabado denied trying to extort money from Bohol, as well as any involvement in the killing of Ruby.

He volunteered to undergo a paraffin test to determine if he had recently fired a gun.

Comendador, however,  said he would ask Bohol to execute an affidavit regarding Bayabado’s threats against him.

Police are also holding in custody two robbery suspects who were arrested a few hours near where Ruby was shot after they shot and robbed a Dutch national.

Isabelo Fernandez and Leonardo dela Cruz are similarly being held as possible suspects in the case.

But Comendador said in spite of these developments, police are not closing the door on other possibilities that other suspects may surface in the course of the ongoing investigation.

Bayabado, in denying trying to extort money from Bohol, said he was merely asked by his employer to collect a debt owed by Bohol and was surprised why he got arrested instead.

Chief Inspector Edelberto Castaneda of the Subangdaku police told The Freeman that prior to his arrest, Bayabado was drinking with Bohol since they were actually friends. Apparently tipsy, Bayabado begun telling Bohol that someone had taken out a contract against him.

Bayabado reportedly bragged that someone was paying him P50,000 to kill Bohol and had already made a downpayment of P30,000. But since they were friends, Bayabado said he was letter Bohol go if he gave him money.

Bohol promptly promised to pay up, and when Bayabado left, he quickly took his wife and they reported to the police.

Police set up a trap, and when Bayabado came back at the agreed time, the police sprang into action.

Bayabado tried to flee but was subdued with the help of some butchers at a nearby abattoir.

Aside from his gun, police recovered from him two cellphones, including a moderately expensive Nokia 7360, which aroused the suspicions of Castaneda. Also, his motorcycle was unregistered and appeared to have been painted over. (/JST)