Woman's body stuffed in trash bag, found in Valle Verde house

The Eastern Police District (EPD) invited for questioning yesterday two South African men regarding the death of a woman whose body was discovered stuffed inside a trash bag and kept in the stockroom of a house in Valle Verde 3 subdivision in Pasig City.

EPD director Chief Superintendent Leon Nilo de la Cruz admitted they have no evidence linking Christo Daniels and Ronald Terense, both 48 years old, to the unidentified woman.

De la Cruz said Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) are still trying to determine whether the body is that of Daniels’ live-in partner, a 21-year-old guest relations officer working at Heartbeat Disco in Quezon City, or housemaid Daisy Libuna, who was reported missing since Friday.

“The body is in an advanced stage of decomposition and already beyond recognition. She was only in her panties and wearing a uniform,” De la Cruz said.

He directed Superintendent Eduardo Villena, head of the EPD’s district investigation and detection management division (DIDMD) to take over the investigation of the case from the Pasig City police.

Villena said Daniels has been in the country for eight months while Terense just arrived last Thursday.

Both Daniels and Terense denied having anything to do with the victim. Their driver, Andrew Manabat, 28, discovered the body Monday in the stockroom of the South Africans’ rented house.

Daniels claimed they started to smell a foul odor last Friday but Manabat initially thought it was a dead rat.

The pungent smell became stronger last Saturday. Because they could no longer stand the smell last Monday, Daniels asked Manabat to look for its source.

SOCO police officers theorized that the victim could have been dead for four or five days prior to the discovery.

When they initially appeared before the Pasig City police investigators, a lawyer accompanied Daniels and Terense and advised them to respond only to questions that would not incriminate them.