Scenes at the fire that struck a residential area in Sitio San Roque, Liburon, Carcar City past 11:30 a.m. today, Sunday (January 26). | Photo Courtesy of Liburon Barangay Councilor Lucio Lastima
CEBU CITY, Philippines — What authorities believed was a fire incident turned into a murder case when they found out that the burnt woman inside a house in Carcar City was killed first allegedly by her own husband.
The suspect, identified as 29-year-old Romnick Melecio, is now facing a parricide case after he allegedly stabbed his wife, Dailyn Melecio, 24, before setting their own house on fire in Barangay Liburon, Carcar City in southern Cebu.
Read: 1 dead in Sunday fire in Carcar City
Police Staff Sergeant Raymond Amance, investigator of the Carcar Police station, told CDN Digital that the police and the fire department were investigating what exactly caused the fire when neighbors of the Melecios told them that Romnick intentionally burned their own house.
The fire department received the fire alarm at 11:16 a.m. while their station received the information around noon of January 26, 2020.
But when the authorities arrived in the area, Romnick could no longer be found.
After hearing the statements of the neighbors, Amance said that they immediately set a manhunt operation.
Romnick was arrested 30 minutes later, when he was found riding a motorcycle cab not far from the area of incident together with his two-month old baby.
When Romnick was arrested, Amance said he confessed that he was the one who burned his house but when asked if he also killed his wife, Amance said Romnick started to cry.
Romnick and Dailyn, according to the neighbors, have been arguing since Saturday night until Sunday morning before the fire.
Amance said that the neighbors believed that Romnick was allegedly an illegal drug user and was not in his right frame of mind when the incident happened.
He also said that an autopsy would be conducted on the burnt body of Dailyn to find out what really caused her death.
Amance said that Romnick was detained in the Carcar Police Station detention facility pending the filing of charges.
The baby on the other hand, was turned over tothe Department of Social Welfare and Development./dbs