Six people, including an eight-year old child, were found dead in what appears to be a massacre by a family member who killed himself afterwards inside their home in a remote area in Tayasan, Negros Oriental.
Acting Philippine National Police provincial director Sr. Supt. Henry Biñas said the crime scene at Sitio Mabigo, Barangay Lag-it, Tayasan was in the hinterlands on the border of Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental with hardly clear telecommunications signal that they could not immediately get the details of the incident.
Initial reports reaching the PNP Provincial Office on Saturday identified the dead as Leovicita Guillepa, 48, Felisa Amihoy, 60 years old; Walbet Amihoy, 40; Dikoy Amihoy, 20; Marilou Goles, 14; Rea Mae Dagohoy Guillepa, 8 years old, all related by affinity or consanguinity.
Sr. Supt. Biñas disclosed that all six of them died from hack and stab wounds, apparently inflicted by only one weapon which was found near one of the dead, Walbet Amihoy, suspected of killing the five others before committing suicide.
Police investigation showed that Walbet Amihoy had shown signs of unusual behavior and was acting strangely soon after his stepfather, Junior Goles died and was buried on Wednesday, February 16.
Prior to that, Walbet Amihoy was already restless, was not eating at all and was carrying a knife with him, which later turned out to be the same knife found at his side when police found him dead, along with the others.
Walbet Amihoy kept saying that somebody was out to kill him, according to the police.
Scene of Crime Operatives (SOCO) who proceeded to the crime scene, which is about ten hours away from Tayasan proper and situated in a forested area, reported that based on their investigation, the wounds on the dead appear to be caused by the knife that Walbet Amihoy carried, said Biñas.
The wounds and the size of the knife matched, he added.
Further investigation narrated that a certain Benjamin Bartolo, a neighbor, heard a woman screaming around 1 a.m. Friday.
Hours later, a certain Judito Ludivice went to the house of the victims to see Dikoy Amihoy to tell him to bring his cow to a “tabo” or flea market in Nalundan, Bindoy town.
As nobody had answered when he called out, Ludivice peeped through a gap in the house and found the body of a bloodied woman sprawled on the floor, which prompted him and the neighbors to call for police assistance through the barangay captain, said Sr. Supt. Biñas.
Responding police found the door to the house locked and so they had to pry it open, and found that the door was nailed from the inside, giving them reason to believe that the crime was perpetrated by Walbet Amihoy, Biñas added.
Sr. Supt. Biñas said that based on police investigation, there were no signs of forced entry that would tell another suspect was involved and that there was a different motive for the killings. (PNA) JFP
