Stench leads to discovery of old woman's brutal death

CEBU, Philippines - A foul odor coming from a house in Sitio Banahaw, Barangay Talaga, Argao led to the discovery of the decomposing body of an old woman believed to have been robbed and brutally killed.

The dead body of Beatrice Lao, 76, was discovered inside her bedroom and was already in a state of decomposition. Lao was lying on her bed with bloodstains on her pillow as well as in every corner of the house.

The stench prompted residents to call the police at about 5:30 in the afternoon on Friday after Lao’s neighbors became suspicious after not seeing her for almost a week.

Argao police are looking into the possibility of robbery as a motive after the drawer of the cabinet inside Lao’s house was already open but they are yet to ascertain if there were valuables lost.

Senior Police Officer 2 Eliezer Monte, Argao police investigator, suspected that Lao was possibly killed on the evening of September 29 or early morning the next day but they still sought assistance from the PNP Crime Laboratory-7 to determine the cause of her death.

Nobody noticed the crime since Lao was with her mentally-ill son, a certain “Papay”, who was living in an adjacent hut while her neighbors live about 200 meters away from.

A team headed by Chief Inspector Alejandro Batobalonos, chief of the Argao Police Station, is now conducting a manhunt operation in Lapu-Lapu City against a suspect, whose identity they refused to disclose but was allegedly one of the three men whom the victim accused of stealing her chickens.

Monte said that on September 16, Lao went to the police station and informed them that her chickens were stolen by three men including the suspect who is currently at large.

He added that Lao and the suspect were scheduled to meet at the barangay hall today to settle the matter.

“Husayon unta na pero wala may witness mura’g allegation lang nang iya,” he said.

Monte suspected that Lao’s allegations may have pushed the suspect to kill her and took advantage of robbing her as well.

Police took the victim’s mentally-ill son “Papay”, who reportedly was not able to eat for five days, to their other relatives in the barangay. (FREEMAN)