Janitor strangles lady boss to death?

SAN NICOLAS, Ilocos Norte, July 19, 2019–Juvilyn Bardiaga, 26, single, of Buenavista Village, Santiago, Isabela, and assistant manager of SM Savemore Supermarket here was found dead Tuesday morning inside her room in an apartment at Brgy. 2, this town, police reported.

In a press briefing yesterday, Major Paul Benedict Parado, town police chief, said the suspect in the brutal killing of the woman executive was believed to be her co-worker at SM Savemore Supermarket-San Nicolas branch in this town.

He said the suspect’s name was withheld pending his arrest but he merely called him alias “Tisoy”.

Tisoy works as a janitor at the store and at the same time a maintenance crew member who was reassigned in several SM Savemore branches in the country, he added.

During the press meeting, Major Parado disclosed the initial result of the investigation, among others, as follows:
— The suspect, about 5’7” tall, forcibly entered the victim’s room through the open small window of the bathroom of her rented apartment.
— As the designated utility boy who used to go to the victim’s apartment to get the store keys from her whenever she was late to report for work in the morning, the suspect became familiarized with the “in” and “out” of the place.
— A CCTV camera installed in the vicinity showed that the footage on Monday night about the man’s body built, how he moved and walked towards the victim’s apartment was positively the same as that of the suspect.
— SOCO team saw that the victim died of strangulation. A cord of a rice cooker was used by the suspect in the killing.
— Only a medical expert or the crime lab could determine if she was raped or not although she was found naked down and her blouse raised above her chest.
— An earlier report that the suspect left a condom on the victim’s face was false. It was the victim’s mucous that probably spilled during the strangulation.
— Robbery was ruled out in the slaying as her personal belongings were intact in the room such cellphones, wallet, and other valuables.
— Motive of the killing may be work-related. In the past, the victim sometimes scolded the suspect in several instances to discipline him which probably irked him until he developed deep hatred against her.
— Shortly after the cadaver was discovered on Tuesday morning, the suspect did not report for work anymore, instead, he went into hiding. His boarding house was located in Laoag City, a few minutes drive to the crime scene.

At press time, it was learned that investigators are set to file murder charges against the suspect who remained at large.

He was last seen in nearby Cagayan province in Region 2 but a police manhunt fanned out nationwide to track him down. (tri-media report)