Unearthed skeleton leads to driver's arrest

CEBU, Philippines - A tricycle driver was arrested for killing his gay lover, whose skeleton was found in an abandoned building in Lipata, Minglanilla town last Friday afternoon.

Police said it was the tactlessness of Richard Mandal, 34, that led to his arrest for killing and then burying 54-year-old Albert Navarro last May.

PO2 Roy Sarsaba of Talisay City Police Station who was one of the arresting officers, said they arrested the suspect at 5:45 pm last Friday, almost two hours after they exhumed the victim’s body.

The suspect, who admitted to the crime, did not resist arrest.

Talisay police officers led by SPO4 Daniel Tarucan arrested Mandal at his grandmother’s house in Mohon, Talisay City.

Sarsaba said the suspect confessed that he killed the victim around 1 pm last May 17 allegedly out of rage because the victim, who was his lover, kept on touching his body.

“Nasuko siya kay sige daw og hikap-hikap, magparayg ba,” Sarsaba said.

The suspect was allegedly in a bad mood at that time because he earlier had a fight with his wife over some personal matters.

The couple, who has a daughter, lived in sitio Lower Mohon, Barangay Mohon, just near the abandoned building. After the fight, the suspect slept in the building which later became the scene of the crime.

Sarsaba said the victim admitted that in his rage, he got a piece of wood and whipped the victim’s neck. The victim, still conscious, attempted to stand, but the suspect whipped him again on the same spot which later led to his death.

Mandal revealed to the authorities that he dug a hole, about one to two feet deep, and buried the victim.

After killing Navarro, Mandal said he still slept inside the building until some few days ago.

His secret was discovered when a fellow tricycle driver in Minglanilla asked him last week why he no longer plied his route.

“Unya kay pagtubag niya nasipyat man siya. Nakapagawas siya ug storya nga nakapatay siya ug tawo,” Sarsaba said.

Last Friday, Sarsaba said the information reached the ears of Galy Navarro, the victim’s younger brother.

Galy, suspecting that his brother was the one killed by the suspect, went to the police station and sought the help of the police.

Tarucan and his fellow policemen proceeded to the crime scene, where neighbors say Mandal and Navarro were last seen together in May.

The police were about to dig a soft portion of the soil when one of the residents suggested that the police try the area near the ladder where they saw the suspect digging last May.

It was in the said spot where the police found a human skeleton with its remaining internal organs already decomposing.

Galy identified the skeleton as his brother through the necklace found near the neck.

After discovering the victim’s skeleton, the police looked for the suspect and arrested him. Mandal admitted the crime and is now detained while awaiting murder charges which will be filed against him tomorrow. (FREEMAN)