Cops eye link between 2 motel fire deaths

Police are looking into the possibility that one person burned two women to death in separate hotels in downtown Manila over the weekend.

Chief Inspector Dominador Arevalo Jr., chief of homicide investigators of the Manila Police District, said yesterday that “the circumstances surrounding the two killings are almost identical.”

“The attacker rented a hotel room for more than 12 hours and  burned his victims to hide the crime,” Arevalo said.

On Sunday night, the staff of the Happy Hotel in Quiapo, Manila were alarmed by thick smoke coming from Room 207. When the room was forcibly opened, they found a dead woman, her face partially burned, and the bed still smoldering.

The woman, about 30 years old, slim, and with long hair, reportedly checked in at the hotel with a medium-built man who was described to be between 35 and 40 years and  about 5’6” tall last Saturday at 10 p.m.

At 7 a.m. the next day, the man, who registered his name as Marvin Cachola, paid for a 12-hour extension on their stay. The man was already gone when the staff noticed the smoke.

Shortly before dawn last Friday, an unidentified woman was burned to death a room at the Sweet Hotel in Sta. Cruz, Manila.

The remains of the victim, between 60 and 65 years old and at least 5’2” tall, were found on a burned bed.

The victim and a man checked in at around 4 p.m. Thursday.

Witnesses described the missing suspect as also between 30 and 35 years old and 5’6” tall.

They said the man was seen hurriedly leaving the hotel carrying a lady’s bag shortly before the fire broke out.

Police released yesterday an artist’s sketch of the suspect in the second killing.

 “We will also have an artist sketch of the first killer and match the two sketches if there is any similarity between the two killers. Then we can determine if the suspect in the two killings is only one person, which is a possibility,” Arevalo said. – Nestor Etolle