Body of woman in cemetery, Id'd; autopsy confirms rape

JANIUAY, ILOILO — The woman whose body was found at the public cemetery of Janiuay town, Iloilo was finally identified, and autopsy reports confirmed suspicion that the 29-year-old Bernadette Peñafiel, a resident of Sitio Gines, Brgy. Jelicuon, Cabatuan, Iloilo, was sexually molested before she was killed.

The victim’s live-in partner, 43-year-old Robert Gerona, and her uncle Alejandro Peñafiel confirmed that it was Bernadette based on the pair of pants and t-shirt the victim wore when she was found.

Gerona and Alejandro went to the police station Tuesday noon to check on the cadaver after Bernadette has not gone home since February 29.

Inspector Jigger Gimeno, Janiuay Police chief,said the victim only went home at around 7 a.m. of February 29 after her usual wandering stint. But at 4p.m. that same day, she again left after receiving a text message.

She told Gerona that she just had to see her “uncle” to get money from him. “So, when she did not return after a few days, Gerona did not suspect anything because it was her habit to leave the house and return after a week or so,” Gimeno said.

Given the circumstances, police investigators believed that the suspects behind Peñafiel’s death could be the person who texted her before she left home. “It is possible that she had a textmate. When they met, something happened that led him into killing her,” Gimeno theorized.

Police are also looking at a fraternity group who took fancy into killing the victim. Based on the autopsy examination done by Chief Inspector Noel Martinez, medico-legal officer of the PNP Regional Crime Laboratory VI, Peñafiel suffered two lacerated wounds on her chest and two on both thighs.

But still, the cause of death was injury on her head. “It is possible that the victims have two or more assailants. A normal person could not have done it to her. So, it’s possible that the perpetrators are under the influence of liquor or illegal drugs,” Gimeno said.

Investigators are also entertaining the idea that the victim was killed after she refused to have sex with more than one man. “Because of her resistance, she was physically hurt,” Gimeno said. - THE FREEMAN