Boarder owns up to killing widow

The killing of a bedridden widow in Sta. Mesa, Manila was solved yesterday after one of her boarders admitted that he killed her while in a drunken haze.

Hotel worker Michael Durana, 20, told the police officers who arrested him that he and his cousin, Louie Ratajczak, drank four bottles of a local gin to celebrate the latter’s birthday Wednesday night, then went to their rented room to sleep.

He said that during the wee hours of the morning, he went to the bathroom to relieve himself. He passed by his landlady’s room and handed Conchita Abaga her cell phone, which nearly fell off the bed.

Durana said it was at this point that he blacked out and dreamt about slashing the throat of a pig. He only realized that he had killed Abaga when his cousin woke him up.

Abaga bled to death from a gaping wound in her throat.

“Until now I am pinching myself to awaken from this horrible nightmare. This should not happen in real life,” he said, adding that he has no reason to kill his landlady since she was good to them. The cousins have been Abaga’s boarders for the past seven months.   – Nestor Etolle