Alleged psychopath beheads scavenger

CEBU, Philippines - A man suspected of being afflicted with psychosis is allegedly behind the decapitating of an Inayawan dumpsite scavenger the other day.

The body, found placed inside a sack, also bore multiple stab wounds.

The body was positively identified by his family as that of 49-year-old Gaudioso dela Cruz, a resident of sitio Tumoy of the said barangay who was reported missing since January 21.

The alleged psychopath and ex-convict, was identified as Edgardo Ibo Abangan, of legal age, who eked out a living also as a scavenger in the said place.

Investigation revealed that on January 21, at around 11 p.m., the victim was accompanied by the suspect to an unknown destination after they had a drinking spree with two other neighbors which started at about 9 p.m.

Orly Cañeba, 34, and Nilo Arriesgado, 48, disclosed to the police that they were with dela Cruz and Abangan during that drinking binge. They said that they left the place because they got scared at the way the suspect stared at them.

Police learned from some residents in the area that Abangan is mentally impaired and that every time he gets drunk or high on illegal drugs, as alleged, he has this fancy of disturbing, threatening, or the worst, killing people referred colloquially as “tripping”, as when under the effects of drugs, but referred to by mental health practitioners as hallucinations or delusions.

A radio report had it that the suspect, allegedly a toughie in the place, got mad at dela Cuz after the latter refused to give him a portion of his income in scavenging.

Police are also verifying the report that the suspect was just released from the Muntinlupa City Jail (New Bilibid Prison) after serving a four-year imprisonment term for a murder case.

Crime scene police operatives responded to the area in White Road, barangay Inayawan and found the decomposing beheaded body of the victim with multiple stab wounds on its different parts. The head, though, was placed in the same sack dumped on a creek.

Cañeba, an employee of the Department of Public Services of the City Hall detailed at the city dumpsite, found the body after tracing the stench that emitted from it which he described to be fouler than the smell of garbage. He then called for police assistance.

The body was then taken to the St. Francis Funeral Homes for autopsy while the suspect, who has gone into hiding, is now a subject of a manhunt operation.

In medical terms, psychosis is a symptom or feature of mental illness typically characterized by radical changes in personality, impaired functioning, and a distorted or non-existent sense of objective reality.

It is a severe mental disorder characterized by derangement of personality and loss of contact with reality and causing deterioration of normal social functioning. — Niña G. Sumacot/MEEV    (FREEMAN NEWS)