Canadian found dead, buried under piggery

CEBU, Philippines - A Canadian national who was reported missing since June 25 was found buried under a piggery on Thursday in Sitio Sapa, Barangay Adlaon, Cebu City.

The body of Darcy Hanz Rentenberg, 53, was exhumed from below an improvised kiln for making charcoal.

SPO3 Ruth Violango said Rentenberg was reported missing by his landlady, Evelyn Rebuscit, to the Mandaue City Police Station 3 after he left the morning of June 25 and did not return.

A man who was reported Rentenberg’s trusted aide, Rolando Aburot, later surrendered to the Cebu City Police Office and admitted responsibility for the crime.

His wife was also detained by police as accessory to crime.

Before he was killed, Rentenberg reportedly went to sitio Sapa to have a drinking session with Aburot. 

In an interview, Aburot told The FREEMAN that while they were drinking at 11 p.m. on June 26, he asked Rentenberg to pay him for his work in constructing the Canadian’s small rest house for 14 days.

But Rentenberg shouted at Aburot in Cebuano, “di ko bayad sa balay, wala ko dinhi.”

This angered Aburot who immediately shot Rentenberg in the back of his head using Rentenberg’s own Frontier revolver.   

The suspect said he immediately wrapped Rentenberg’s body with a blanket and buried it under a kiln few feet away from the rest house.

After burying Rentenberg, he then cemented the grave and turned it into a pig fence.

Aburot said he took Canadian’s P50,000 cash which he used to purchase a buffalo and pigs.

Aburot’s wife, Marilyn, reportedly sold Rentenberg’s laptop for P8,000 and cell phone for P1,000. The police, however, retrieved those items after the suspects’ surrender.

The Canadian Embassy got worried of Rentenberg’s disappearance and commissioned a policeman to look for him.

The police officer and barangay officials went to Sitio Sapa to investigate Aburot’s couple who were the last persons to have seen Rentenberg.

During their investigation, they noticed an odd piggery 300 feet away from the couple’s house cramped with seven pigs.

After seeking permission from the barangay and landowner, the police and barangay officials started digging beside the piggery and found a body of a man later.

When the body was identified to be that of the missing Canadian, Aburot, his wife and 17-year-old son immediately fled the area.

But fearing for their lives, the Aburot couple later surrendered to the police.

Aburot, who is facing a murder charge, has known Rentenberg for 20 years. It was the Canadian who took him from the streets and gave him a new life.

A former missionary, Rentenberg has been helping street kids since arriving in the Philippine in the 1980s.  (FREEMAN)