Man confesses to killing mom

CEBU, Philippines - The case on the death of a woman in the hands of her son is officially solved after the suspect admitted to the crime.

Christian Lucky Dalangin, aided by a lawyer from the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), admitted to agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) that he killed his mother, Ruby Rosa Tenchavez.

 The crime happened last Tuesday dawn, but the body of the 53-year-old victim was recovered only yesterday afternoon.

It was buried on a shallow grave inside the stockroom of her residence at corner Ganciang and Cashmere Sts. in Barangay Mambaling. 

The suspect tried to hide the grave by cementing the area. The forensics team that recovered the body had to break the concrete before they were able to dig out the body, which was buried four feet deep.

NBI-7 director Eduardo Villarta said the suspect confessed that he slit his mother’s throat twice using a kitchen knife last Tuesday dawn. He said that it was due to her constant nagging.

NBI agents Arnel Pura and lawyer Bernard de la Cruz said that the suspect put into writing his admission.

The extra judicial confession was subscribed by PAO lawyer Al Rey Ouano.

Search warrant

Agents of the NBI got a search warrant from Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 10 Judge Soliver Peras yesterday for the residence of the victim.

The NBI learned about the crime when the mother of one of the witnesses sought their assistance.

A sister of the victim also suspected something was wrong when the suspect gave her inconsistent answers to queries on her whereabouts.

Dalangin, a 20-year-old Nursing school drop out, was taken into custody last Thursday afternoon.

The NBI agents could not immediately search for the body and went to court to request for a warrant.

The search

The crime, according to Villarta, happened in the living room where forensics experts found blood stains on the floor. After killing his mother, Dalangin reportedly placed her body on a couch.

It was at this point when Dalangin allegedly went to the house of his friend, Carmelo “Tintin” Echevalla, 19, to ask for his help.

Echevalla went with Dalangin and saw the body. When he was asked to don gloves to help the suspect put the body of Tenchavez into a trash bag, the former ran away.

Dalangin allegedly ran after Echevalla and threatened him and his family with harm if he would report the incident.

Echavalla, who was bothered with what he saw, told his mother, who in turn sought the assistance of the NBI.

The forensics team took three hours to exhume the body as they had to be careful in order to preserve whatever evidence was there.

The knife, which was used in the killing, hasn’t been found though.

The victim was positively identified by her three sisters — Vivian Batayola, Norma Mayubay, and Evelyn Tenchavez.

Evelyn said that she had been looking for her sister since Tuesday.

Tenchavez body was brought out from the house in a green body bag at around 5 p.m. and was brought to the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes where a post-mortem examination will be conducted.

Evelyn told The Freeman that she last saw her younger sister on Monday morning after she visited her at around 10 a.m. to iron a bed sheet with a big hole.

When Evelyn asked what happened to the sheet, her sister said that her son might have torn the sheet after they had a recent argument regarding money.

Ruby Rosa later that day asked Evelyn to come back on Tuesday where Dalangin reportedly prevented her to enter the house saying that his mother left for Bohol and will return either yesterday or today.

Evelyn believes that her nephew had committed the crime due to his allegedly being a drug addict and a drunkard.

Two elder brothers of the suspect live overseas. One is in the United Kingdom while the other is in Singapore.

The victim has been using her maiden name since her marriage was annulled. — /NLQ (FREEMAN)