Drug-crazed man kills lover in hostage-taking

SAN PEDRO, Laguna — A drug-crazed man fatally stabbed his live-in partner and took three children, aged two to five, hostage here yesterday morning.

Chief Inspector Nilo Berdin, San Pedro police chief, said 35-year-old Edgardo Artamia slashed his wrist and stabbed himself with a fan knife after killing his live-in partner, Carolina Demate, 35, inside their house in Barangay Cuyab.

Demate was rushed to the Jose Amante Emergency Clinic with a knife still embedded in her neck, but was declared dead on arrival. She also had two stab wounds in the chest.

Artamia is reportedly in serious condition at the Philippine General Hospital due to self-inflicted stab wounds as well as a gunshot wound in the leg.

Investigators said Artamia, brandishing a fan knife, held hostage Demate, nieces Camille Oliveros, 5, and Eljane de Lara, 2, and nephew Jeric de Lara, 4, at about 10 a.m.

Policemen negotiated the release of the three children, to which Artamia acceded.

Artamia, however, soon became violent, stabbing Demate and then himself. This forced SPO1 Dominador Enriquez to shoot him in the leg.

Barging into the house, policemen found the bloodied Demate lifeless on the floor, her hands tied with a handkerchief and a knife embedded in her neck, and Artamia leaning against the wall, similarly bloodied and motionless.

Police said Artamia is a drug dependent and an allegedly notorious thief in Barangay Cuyab.