Cops nab pastor for death of wife

CEBU, Philippines - Charges of parricide will be filed against Pastor Leonardo Jastiva, Sr. after police arrested him yesterday afternoon for being the alleged mastermind of the slay of his wife Judith, whom he reported kidnapped over a week ago.

Sr. Supt. Patrocinio Comendador, Jr., Director of Cebu City Police Office said Jastiva is now under the custody of CCPO pending the filing of the said charge today or tomorrow.

“As of today (yesterday), we have officially placed Mr. Leonardo Jastiva, Sr. under arrest and in custody of CCPO for the crime of parricide for the killing of his wife,” Comendador said.

The arrest was carried out at 2:15 p.m. yesterday after the police got both physical and circumstantial evidence linking Jastiva to the crime.

Comendador said that the breakthrough in the investigation of the case came after the police got custody of two cellular phones of Jastiva.

Sr. Insp. Mario Monilar, chief of the Homicide Section, said that he asked for Jastiva’s cellular phone yesterday morning during an ocular inspection of the area where Judith’s body was found and Jastiva readily handed them over.

Sr. Insp. George Ylanan, chief of Investigation and Detection Section Management Branch, instructed PO3 Jennifer Lerio to transcribe all the messages in both phones.

Lerio then sent a message to her own phone number using one of the phones of Jastiva and the number turned out to be the same as that Jastiva reported was owned by the men who abducted his wife. 

The said number, in fact, was the same number Jastiva gave to The FREEMAN and some of the media the following day after his wife was allegedly abducted.

“Both cellphones actually belong to Mr. Jastiva all along. Since yesterday, we had to believe that he was really the one responsible for the killing of his wife,” Comendador said.

After recording and studying all the messages of Jastiva sent to him including the messages of the said kidnapper who set guidelines for the police, Ylanan said that the styles of both Jastiva and the ‘kidnapper’ in texting were the same.

The use of a comma after a name or a pronoun and the use of the words ‘gyud’ and ‘mi’ were used leading police to conclude that Jastiva sent the messages himself.

 “All indications from the start of the alleged kidnapping, paingon na jud gatudlo niya (Jastiva),”Ylanan said.

Comendador also said that even if they did not seize the cellphone yet, they suspected Jastiva had something to do with the crime.

In front of Jastiva, Ylanan said while holding the said cellphone, “kaila ko aning cellphone-na, sa kidnapper ni,” and observed the suspect’s reaction.

Ylanan said that Jastiva’s face turned pale.

Shortly before the body was found, Jastiva received a message from the supposed kidnapper that the discovery of the body should not be entered in the police blotter.

The supposed kidnapper also reportedly gave instructions that if ever the body would be found they would just claim it and bury it immediately without further investigation.

Jastiva forwarded the said message to Ylanan, who revealed yesterday that they replied to Jastiva that they would agree to the demands so as not to compromise the investigation.

Comendador said they surmised that the motive of the killing was due to “some romantic affair allegedly by the pastor’s wife.”

Though Jastiva refused to give any comment on the incident, the police believed he would admit to the “gruesome murder” in due time.

“We are not forcing him. We are giving him time to meditate,” Comendador said.

The police would not believe that it was really a kidnapping case because the kidnappers did not demand money.Monilar said a second ocular inspection was done yesterday at the mountain barangay of Tabunan, Cebu City where Judith was allegedly killed. He said he did it so that Jastiva’s conscience might be bothered.

Prior to that, the police also took him again to P. Abella Street, barangay Labangon where the alleged abduction took place last February 9, for the same purpose.

Nestor Sator, medico-legal officer of the PNP Crime Laboratory, revealed that the skull of the victim was fractured because of a hard object that was smashed on her forehead that also resulted to a broken nose.

Though the body was already bloated and foul smelling, Sator found bruises on the victim’s chest, jaw, and stomach, which Sator said we made after the head was smashed.

Sator estimated that the body was dead for about four to six days when it was discovered.

The doctor did not see any ligature marks on the victim’s neck even though there was a dog chain placed near her head.

The alleged kidnapper also sent message to Jastiva informing him that her wife was just hit and was not raped, Sator said.

Sator said he would not determine already whether the victim was raped before she was killed because the body was already decomposing.

He said that the climate could also possibly make the body to decompose faster.

Comendador said that they are still in the process of investigation to determine if there were other persons involved in the said crime.

Police said that the items recovered from the crime scene were allegedly put there to mislead them.

The items recovered were two unused condoms, a pair of sandals, an eggplant with a condom on it, a silver dog chain, a pair of eyeglasses and three empty bottles of an energy drink.

A member of the International Missionary Society of Seventh Day Adventist which Jastiva heads, (the one whom the couple visited in barangay Banilad shortly before the alleged abduction), told The FREEMAN that Judith was a good woman and that the two were in good terms.

The CCPO police officials are still studying if what other cases shall be filed against Jastiva. — /NLQ (THE FREEMAN)