Six found killed inside locked house in village

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — Six people, including an eight-year-old child, were found dead Friday in what appeared to be a massacre by a family member —who also killed himself afterwards — inside their locked house at the remote area of Sitio Mabigo of Barangay Lag-it in Tayasan, Negros Oriental.

Senior Superintendent Henry Biñas, acting director of the Negros Oriental Provincial Police  Office (NORPPO), said the crime scene was in the hinterlands, bordering Negros Oriental and Occidental provinces, with almost no telecommunications signal.

The Tayasan Police, led by Senior Inspector Fortunato Villafuerte said his team and another from the Negros Oriental Crime Laboratory in Dumaguete City, headed by Chief Inspector Ponce De Leon, went to the crime scene, but found the house locked. This prompted them to forcibly opened the door and saw the bloodied dead bodies.

Police identified the five victims as Eubisita Guillepa, 54 years old; Feliza Amihoy, 60; Dikoy Amihoy, 22; Marilou Golez, 14; and Rhea Mae Guillepa, 8 years old. The suspected killer, 40-year-old Walbet Amihoy, was also found dead—believed to have killed himself with the 15.5-inch knife he used to kill his family members.

Biñas said all six of them died from hack and stab wounds, apparently inflicted by the knife found near the body of Walbet. The five victims sustained multiple wounds, while Walbet only had one stab wound in his abdomen through and through the left side of his body.

Initial investigation showed that Walbet earlier showed signs of “unusual behavior” and was “acting strangely” soon after his stepfather, Junior Golez died and was buried on Wednesday.

Prior to that, Walbet was already restless, was not eating at all and was carrying a knife with him, which later turned out to be the same knife found at his side when police found him dead, along with the others. Walbet Amihoy kept saying that somebody was out to kill him, said the police.

Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO), who proceeded to the scene, about ten hours travel from Tayasan proper and situated in a forested area, reported that based on their investigation, the wounds on the dead appeared to be caused by the knife that Walbet carried. The wounds and the size of the knife matched, said Biñas

Further investigation narrated that a certain Benjamin Bartolo, a neighbor, heard a woman screaming from inside the house at around 1 a.m. Friday. Hours later, a certain Judito Ludivice went to the house of the victims to see Dikoy to tell him to bring his cow to a “tabo” or flea market in Nalundan, Bindoy town.

When nobody answered, Ludivice said he peeped through a slit on the wall of the house and found the body of a bloodied woman sprawled on the floor. This prompted him and the neighbors to call for police assistance through the barangay captain, said Biñas.

Biñas said that investigators reported no signs of forced entry that would tell another suspect may have been involved. (FREEMAN)