Jealous lover buries slain woman’s body inside a Cebu City condo complex

Police cordon the shallow grave inside the workers’ bunkhouse of a condominium complex in Barangay Kasambagan, Cebu City where they found at dawn of March 23, 2019 the remains of Josephine Ortega, 38,  who was allegedly killed by her live-in partner, Crisanto Martinez, 35, a maintenance worker in the condo complex. |CDND Photo/Benjie Talisic

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Police today recovered the decomposing remains of a woman found in a shallow grave inside the maintenance workers’  bunkhouse of a low-rise condominium complex in Barangay Kasambagan, Cebu City.

The remains  were later identified  to be that  of Josephine Ortega, 38,  who was allegedly killed by her live-in partner, a Crisanto Martinez, 35, a maintenance worker in the condo complex.

Chief Inspector Dindo Juanito Alaras, the chief the Mabolo Police Precinct, told CDN Digital that they proceeded to the area at dawn today after they received a complaint from the condominium’s security guards of foul smell coming from the bunkhouse.

The security guards suspected that it could be human remains and immediately contacted the police,  he said.

Alaras said they found right inside the bunkhouse the source of the foul smell and it turned out to be the body of a woman who was wrapped in a comforter.

A follow up operation led police to Martinez, a resident of Barangay Labangon, Cebu City.

According to Alaras, Martinez claimed that the woman committed suicide and he decided to bury her because he knew he would be blamed for her death.

However, Alaras said they later learned that the woman was killed sometime last week allegedly by Martinez in a  fit of jealousy while both were inside the bunkhouse. To hide his crime, he allegedly buried her body within the area where she was killed.

The shallow grave was found to have been covered with stones and construction debris  – all of which failed to stop the foul smell from coming out. /elb