Probers: Strangler drunk, planned slay

By LITO RULONA
and NITZ ARANCON
Correspondents

STACEY Villar’s self-confessed strangler Gregorio “Boyet” Rosabal Santos Jr. told investigators he had a drink too many, and had planned the murder to get back at the teenager’s mother, police said yesterday.

The revelation prompted the police to trash the robbery with homicide charge they had intended to press against Santos yesterday, and instead filed murder and theft charges before the prosecutor’s office.

The complaint was filed by P03 Marietta Reyes at around 4:52 pm at the City Prosecutor’s Office at a time when the Villar funeral was ongoing at a Bulua cemetery.

At the city police’s Maharlika headquarters in Carmen where Santos has been in detention since his surrender on Saturday, the self-confessed strangler avoided eye contact or being seen by Villar’s mother, Merideth “Madet” Mah, who came in the morning to go over an affidavit against her daughter’s killer.

Santos told the Gold Star Daily he didn’t want a confrontation with Mah. “Kasab-an man gani ko nga wa koy sala, karon pa,” Santos said.

Police said Mah and Santos were estranged lovers who ignored each other in an establishment for Bingo enthusiasts the night before the 14-year old teenager was attacked while she was sleeping in her room at Morning Mist subdivision in upper Carmen.

Investigators said Mah and Santos’s relationship had been like a roller-coaster ride, and the suspect told this paper that they quarreled over “financial” matters. He did not elaborate.

Chief Insp. Jeopet Paglinawan, chief of the Carmen police, said, “We found evidence of premeditation… there was a plan to kill.”

He said Santos told investigators that he was under the influence of an intoxicating drink when he strangled the 14-year-old Villar.

Paglinawan said Santos told investigators that he acted on his own, and that he had an intention to kill. He said the admission made the police re-think its case and decide to do away with the plan to charge Santos with homicide and robbery, a case initially thought of because of Villar’s missing cellphone, and because, at that time, police have yet to establish a motive for the killing.

“Ang pagkuha sa butang is secondary na lamang. Iyang gi-angkon ang krimen for the reason of jealousy,” Paglinawan said.

Police said a witness has also come forward, and claimed to have seen Santos entering the pad where the girl was, corroborating surveillance camera recordings that showed the suspect entering the subdivision at around 12:54 am and leaving at around 1:37 am Thursday, minutes before Mah returned.

At first, Santos lied and denied that he was at the crime scene but later owned up to the murder, Paglinawan said.
“During our initial investigation, we have not established the identity of the suspect and his relationship with the victim. So at that time, we recommended the filing of homicide and robbery because a personal property was lost,” Paglinawan said.

Paglinawan said the new twist developed on Saturday after Santos surrendered to Mayor Oscar Moreno. He said when investigators pieced up the subsequent revelations, statements, and evidence, a different picture was formed, pointing to murder.

Paglinawan said the police have not yet closed the investigation into the Villar murder case. “We are still looking at other possible motives. If we can substantiate, then we will press other charges.”