Suspect in preacher’s slay nabbed

Police claimed to have solved the killing of a 48-year-old female preacher in Tondo with the apprehension of her 22-year-old distant relative, who was positively identified by a witness as the killer.

Suspect Sandy Barroga was among a group of four persons earlier picked up by the police for questioning in connection with the killing of Amalia Galleno, who was stabbed in the sala of her rented apartment at 1323 Interior 14 corner Quiricada and Yakal streets last Monday.

Barroga, a stockroom helper, is a grandson of the victim’s deceased husband. He lives next door with his relatives at the duplex-type apartment owned by the victim.

He was positively identified by one Alvin Maliwanag as the person who stabbed the victim.

Murder charges were filed against the suspect.

In his narration to police, Maliwanag said he saw Barroga holding a kitchen knife when he brought the victim’s nine-month-old grandson to her house Monday night. He said he was so scared that he ran away after putting the baby on a sofa.

Maliwanag said Barroga and several of his relatives and friends were drinking at a birthday party outside the victim’s house at that time.

It was the Manila police’s so-called "dynamic duo" of Inspector Victor Mirapanum and SPO2 Virgo Villareal, who relentlessly conducted follow-up operations until the whereabouts of the witness and the suspect were established.

"We had interrogated several possible suspects until our investigations led to the apprehension of the killer," Mirapanum said.

According to Villareal, the suspect left his residence but returned soon after learning that the police had picked up other suspects.

"That was his mistake, thinking that he was off the hook," Villareal said, adding that the suspect’s body language betrayed his claim of innocence. "He was shaking when we arrived to pick him up."

Investigators said a relatives’ spat over a piece of land where the victim’s house stood could be one of the motives for the killing. It was learned that the victim’s house stands on a compound occupied by her husband’s relatives.

Barroga, meanwhile, insisted on his innocence and claimed that he was asleep when the killing took place. He insisted that he had no reason to kill the victim.

Investigators have subjected Barroga to a drug test, results of which will be available tomorrow.

Police said the killer was known to the victim since there was no forcible signs of entry at her house. Police also ruled out robbery as the motive since the belongings of the victim were intact.

Galleno’s body was discovered by a neighbor at about 8 p.m. Monday after she became concerned when the victim failed to come out of her apartment. Beside the preacher’s body was her adopted daughter’s baby who was spared from harm. The door at the ground floor was locked from the inside.

Probers said that except for a stab wound in the neck, there were no other visible signs of injury on the victim, who has been a widow for seven years.

The victim’s adopted daughter Charesse Anne, who is living separately with her live-in partner at a nearby house, usually leaves her baby with the victim.