Quezon City police officers investigating the motive behind the killing of a retired lawyer are now eyeing personal vendetta rather than robbery.
It appeared that one of the housemaids, Michelle Beriego, had an axe to grind against victim Emilio Venegas, said Superintendent Marcelino Pedrozo, Jr., deputy chief of the Quezon City Police District-Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit.
Venegas, and a lawyer and businessman, was found lifeless with a cord still looped around his neck at around 9:30 p.m. Friday inside his house on Mindanao Avenue in Barangay Bagong Pag-asa, Quezon City.
Beriego and fellow housemaid Josephine Coritana were the only ones with the victim at the time.
Pedrozo said there were no stolen items from the house, contrary to initial reports. “So the killing was really more of a case of vendetta than robbery,” he said.
Based on interviews with the family, Pedrozo said a few weeks ago, Venegas scolded Beriego after an item in the house was busted. “It was Beriego who had the reason to get back at the victim,” Pedrozo told The STAR in an interview.
The police official also noted that since the victim was an old man, he would not have been able to fight off the two maids if they ganged up on him.
Both Beriego and Coritana are still at large and the subjects of manhunt operations, Pedrozo said.