Autopsy results show kids died of suffocation

Cebu - Autopsy results showed that the two children, who were found dead inside The Apartelle along Escario St. the other day along with the live-in partner of their mother, died of asphyxia by suffocation.

Dr. Nestor Sator, medico-legal officer of the PNP Regional Crime Laboratory Office, conducted the autopsy on Christoph Von Borstel, 10, and his half-sister Christy May Tabal, 5.

Felix Ortiz, who is believed to have been the one who killed the children before hanging himself, was a live-in partner of the mother of the children, Bernadita Tabal Von Borstel.

Bernadita told reporters that Ortiz might have become jealous that she was with a German when she arrived in Mactan last December 27.

“Ug naa man jud gani ko’y German boyfriend, so what, ‘di ba? Dili man mi kasado niya (Ortiz),” Tabal said.

She lamented that Ortiz could have taken her life instead, not of the two innocent children, who she said were excellent in school.

She said that she could not believe what Ortiz has done because he was a religious man and went to church regularly on Sundays.

Bernadita, however, said that she is not blaming Ortiz and herself for the incident.

Tabal disclosed that before she left The Apartelle, she told Ortiz that she would just come back in the evening or call him before going back there.

But when she called the front desk around 9 p.m. after unsuccessfully reaching Ortiz through his cellular phone, the personnel said that they were given instructions not to bother Ortiz as they were already sleeping.

After that, Tabal decided to go back to her place at the mountain barangay of Guba, Cebu City.

She said she felt nervous around 3 a.m. and even called her mother and some of her siblings who in turn comforted her and told her not to think of negative things.

Still uncomfortable, she called the apartment around 7 a.m. and was surprised when the desk officer said that nobody got out of the room.

The children, she said, were usually up from bed as early as 6 a.m. This prompted her to go to the place to discover the tragedy.

Tabal said that last Sunday, the two kids kept on hugging her and told her how much they loved her, as if they were bidding farewell.

The kids, despite being away from each other for so long, were amazingly close to each other.

Christoph, who was then two months old when his German father died, allegedly told her that he did not want to celebrate Christmas here in the country.

Tabal also said that Ortiz was already disappointed with her way about four years ago when she insisted of going back to Germany by borrowing money from her mother and leaving Christy, who was still then over one year old.

Meanwhile, Marietha Dumas, the eldest of 12 Ortiz siblings, expressed shock of the incident and said that she did not know what really triggered her brother to do the crime.

She said that her brother was a jolly person and that he even called her after New Year.

The two kids were found lying with their face down and their heads covered with yellow plastic bags.

Ortiz was hanging by the door jamb. – Niña Chrismae G. Sumacot/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)