Nueva Vizcaya massacre suspect back

A Filipino seaman wanted for the massacre of his wife and three children aged 5 to 13 in Nueva Vizcaya last April, is now in the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Suspect Danilo Afalla, 42, was handed over to the NBI by agents of the US Immigration and Naturalization Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation upon his arrival from Los Angeles, California at 6 a.m. yesterday.

Afalla slipped out of the country last April 19, a day after the mangled bodies of his wife, Recy, 40; and children Chinee Claire, 13; Mark Anthony, 11; and Michael Angelo, 5, were found in a shallow grave on the bank of the Magat River in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya.

Probers suspect that Afalla killed his family because of jealousy. He had intimated to a high school friend that he had doubts whether his youngest son was his.

Afalla, when presented to reporters, denied having a hand in the massacre, saying that while he had heard about his wife’s illicit affair with another man, he failed to confirm it.

"I didn’t want any trouble. That’s why I left. It was not safe for me to stay here," he said, claiming that a syndicate in Taytay, Rizal, where the family resided, was responsible for the killings.

Forensic experts said the victims were bludgeoned to death as evidenced by fractures and wounds in their heads. Their bodies were wrapped in plastic sheets, and their hands and feet bound with rope.

US Marshals arrested Afalla in his rented apartment in downtown Miami in Florida, USA where his ship was docked.

Afalla will be turned over possibly today to the NBI office in Bayombong where he faces multiple parricide charges. – Mike Frialde, Rey Arquiza and Charlie Lagasca