Police eye more massacre suspects

Forensic investigators yesterday said they are inclined to believe that the grisly killing of a family of three and their housemaid Wednesday night in Caloocan City could not have been done by one person alone.

"Di kakayanin ng isa. Kahit dalawa mahirap pa rin. Pwedeng tatlo, considering the number of victims and, significantly, the number of stab wounds inflicted on each victim. The suspect or suspects used a knife and an icepick in the killing. Maaaring pumatay sa matinding galit o nasa impluwensya ng droga," Superintendent Vladimir Villaseñor, Scene of the Crime Operations (SOCO) chief, told The STAR yesterday.

The stabbing frenzy occurred between 6:40 p.m. and 7:50 p.m. last Wednesday in the victims’ house on 4th street corner 12th Avenue, East Grace Park, Caloocan City, records showed.

Villaseñor, who autopsied the victims’ bodies, also said that Andro Luis Villa, 41, a trader engaged in the sale of heavy equipment parts, sustained 37 stab wounds from a 12-inch knife. He had a large hack wound in the left abdomen.

He said that 90 percent of Villa’s wounds were non-fatal. His face was stabbed 18 times. The 13 on the neck proved to be fatal, severing his arteries.

Joy Cambongga, 19, Villa’s live-in partner, sustained the least number of stab wounds (10), all in the neck.

Villa’s 12-year-old daughter, Yvana Faye, sustained the most number of stab wounds at 44.

Villaseñor said she was the last victim to fall. The number of wounds she suffered indicated that she probably fought back.

Yvana Faye, probers said tried to hold off her attacker or attackers. The young girl’s throat was slashed and most of her vital organs lacerated. Villaseñor also said there was no indication she was raped.

Fely Omblero, 60, the Villas’ maid, was hit in the mouth before she was stabbed twice in the stomach with an icepick. The knife wounds in the neck severed her arteries causing her death.

Meanwhile, Superintendent Napoleon Cuaton, city police investigation chief, said a manhunt is underway for the arrest of suspect Jonito Espinosa, 21, of Zamboanga City and the victims’ houseboy for over a year.

Espinosa, nicknamed Tyson, was a former amateur boxer who trained in the province before coming to Metro Manila.

Cuaton told The STAR that Espinosa is still in Metro Manila and could not have escaped to his hometown in Mindanao.

"Hindi siya pwedeng lumipad. Mas maliit ang magiging lugar niya doon (Zamboanga City). Also, with him is his wife, who is reportedly five months pregnant. This could slow him down and maybe even cause him to eventually give up and surrender to us peacefully. Mahirap ang my bitbit pag tumatakbo ka. His relatives and those of his wife are already cooperating with us," Cuaton said.