Man kills sister-in-law, tries to burn house to hide crime

TALISAY KILLING

A man killed his 27-year-old sister-in-law, tried to hide her naked body under their house, and tried to burn their house to hide his crime before fleeing yesterday, police said.

Chief Insp. Germano Mallari of the Talisay City Police said they are looking for Alfonso Saballa, 35, a sand and gravel truck driver, who is the suspect in the killing of his sister-in-law Manilyn Saballa.

The suspect Alfonso fled after the crime and remains at large.

Investigation showed that Manilyn’s body was found stuffed in a space under their house. A neighbor found her body at 7 a.m., a few hours after Alfonso’s sister and Alfonso’s wife put out a fire on one side of their house.

Manilyn was also found with a wire tied to her neck and a wound on her head, which showed that she was hit  with a hard object.
Mallari said the way the body was found without her clothes on suggests that the woman was raped.

But, he  said, he will not jump into conclusions and  will wait for the result of the autopsy on Manilyn.

“The crime might have taken place the night before or at dawn. We cannot determine yet the cause of her death,” he said in Cebuano.

PO3 Junel Ater, desk officer of the Talisay police, said the victim is living with her husband’s two siblings in one house, which they divided into three —  one for her husband’s sister Jessa and the other for the family of the suspect.

Manilyn, who is married to Alfonso’s brother, has two daughters whose ages are three and six.

Manilyn was alone in her room that night because her two children usually slept with Jessa in her room.

Manilyn’s husband is scheduled to return to Talisay this August after spending two years in Qatar as a truck driver.

Jessa told police that at past midnight she went out of her room to check after she heard a loud thud in one of the rooms.

She said she thought there was nothing wrong since the rooms of both Manilyn’s room and her brother Alfonso’s room were closed.

“Residents also told them that Alfonso had an interest in the victim and that there was even a time when he would try to peek in the victim’s room while she was changing clothes or sometimes when she’s in the toilet,” Ater said.

Ater also said the suspect had a record of using illegal drugs.

Ater said that before he left at dawn, Alfonso got hold of gasoline and tried to set the house on fire – an attempt to hide his crime.
Mallari said they are now checking the possible whereabouts of the suspect to arrest him.

Mallari said they will file a charge of murder and possibly rape if the autopsy shows the victim was raped./With a report from Correspondent Rene F. Alima