Cops eye rape before murder: Pastor's missing wife found dead

CEBU, Philippines - The wife of a pastor who was reportedly abducted last week was found dead half naked yesterday morning in sitio Cantipla I, barangay Tabunan, Cebu City.

Pastor Leonardo Jastiva of the International Missionary Society of Seventh-Day Adventist Church Reform Movement personally identified the decomposing body as that of his wife Judith.

Judith, 39, whose body was discovered around 8:30 a.m. yesterday, was reportedly abducted in the evening of February 9 in Happy Valley, Banawa in barangay Labangon.

Cebu City Police Office director Sr. Supt. Patrocinio Comendador said that last Tuesday night, Leonardo sent text messages to Sr. Insp. George Ylanan, chief of Intelligence Detective Management Branch (IDMB) of the CCPO, asking for policemen to go to Cantipla to search for his wife.

Leonardo told Ylanan that he received a text message from the alleged abductors informing him that the body of his wife could be found in Cantipla.

The alleged abductors also sent another text message containing a sketch of the area where Judith’s body could be located.

Comendador then ordered Ylanan and several CCPO personnel to go to the upland barangay. But while searching in Cantipla, the police did not find anything.

However, Leonardo, who conducted his own search in the area, claimed that he found a jacket which he confirmed to be owned by his wife.

“Ang text messages ni Pastor Jastiva specific kaayo ang lugar nga gipang-mention niini nga inig abot sa usa ka may billboard sa lugar moliko lang sila sa tuong bahin ug naa na didto ang patay’ng lawas,” Sr. Supt. Comendador said.

Judith’s body was discovered by a certain Alfonso Diacuma, resident of the place, who was pasturing his goat.

At first, Diacuma thought that what he saw was a snake because of its yellowish color. But as he checked further, he saw a body of a woman.

He immediately informed Cantipla councilman Enemidio Nara, who then called up the police.

“Makita na g’yud nimo ang bukog sa iyang ulo unya niburot na ang lawas niini. Asta pud and lapa-lapa sa tiil niini nakalabira na ingon man ang duha ka mga kamot ug nahunlos na ang buhok,” said SPO2 Rey Cuyos, an investigator of Homicide Section of the CCPO.

Ylanan went to Leonardo’s house after the discovery of the dead body.

He said he took time convincing Leonardo to go with him to Rolling Hills Funeral Homes in Mandaue City to confirm whether the body was his wife because Leonardo gave some conditions before he cooperates.

At the Rolling Hills, Leonardo and his child identified the body to be Judith’s through the scar in the victim’s left knee. Judith reportedly got the scar in a motorcycle accident.

Leonardo and his relatives decided to transfer Judith’s body to Saint Francis Funeral Homes.

The body will undergo autopsy in order for the police to determine the circumstances surrounding’s Judith death.

Upon her discovery, Judith was wearing a red t-shirt and black long skirt.

Policemen recovered from area near her body a pair of black sandals, an empty sachet of condom, two pieces of unused condoms, three empty bottles of energy drink, a dog chain, a pair of underwear, and an eggplant inserted in a condom.

Cuyos said that there is possibility that the victim was raped before she was killed. — /LPM   (THE FREEMAN)