Tagaytay hotel slay suspect surrenders

MANILA, Philippines — A dismissed employee of a hotel in Tagaytay, Cavite where an Australian and two Filipino guests were found dead, has surrendered to authorities.

The suspect, identified only as Ronel, surrendered to Mayor Jecerell Cerado of Tuy, Batangas on Tuesday night.

Cerado and other local officials accompanied the suspect to the Tuy police.

The suspect was turned over to the Tagaytay police.

Ronel was tagged in the murder of David James Fisk, 57; his Filipina wife Lucita, 55, and her daughter Mary Jane Cortez, 30.

Tagaytay police chief Col. Charles Daven Capagcuan said the suspect was a former pool attendant at the Lake Hotel in Barangay Maharlika West, where the victims were found dead with stab wounds on July 10.

Citing Ronel’s written admission, Capagcuan said the crime was the suspect’s way of avenging his dismissal from work by the hotel management.

The suspect was dismissed in March, supposedly for unknown reasons.

Capagcuan said the suspect committed the crime alone.

Armed with a bladed weapon, police said Ronel barged into the rooms of the victims to rob them.

The suspect is currently under the custody of the Tagaytay Component City police.