Man murders 2 kids
CRISTOPH von Borstel would have celebrated his 10th birthday yesterday, instead he was found dead inside a room of an apartelle along Escario St. Cebu City, a yellow grocery plastic bag covering his head.
Beside Cristoph, who was born to a German father and a Cebuano mother, was his lifeless half-sister Christy May Tabal, 5, her head also covered with a plastic bag.
Responding policemen found the two kids lying face down at the top of the bed of Room 211 at the second floor of The Apartelle at 11 a.m. yesterday.
A few meters away, responding policemen found Felix Ortiz, 35, hanging from a blue nylon rope tied around his neck and secured to a beam of a wall that separated the living room from the bedroom.
Homicide Section Chief Investigator Jay Yballe said it is likely that Ortiz, a native of Surigao City, killed the children late Sunday evening or before dawn yesterday before killing himself.
The bodies of the children and Ortiz, Yballe said, have started to stiffen or were already in the state of rigor mortis, indicating that the killing was done hours before it was discovered.
Jealousy
Asked about Ortiz’s motive in taking the children’s lives with him, Yballe said, “It was a personal problem. Love and jealousy.â€
Jobless but a graduate of a mechanical engineering course, Ortiz used to be the live-in partner of the children’s mother, Bernardita Tabal von Borstel, 38, and the father of Christy May.
Christoph was Bernar-dita’s son from her German husband, who had died.
When Bernardita, a native of Barangay Guba, Cebu City, became a widow and went back to Cebu, she met and had a relationship with Ortiz, their union producing Christy May.
Yballe said Bernardita told him what she thought was the reason for the killing but asked that it would not be further discussed with the media.
Her older brother Isabelo and her sister-in-law Dalia, in separate interviews, believe that Felix was worried that he no longer had a chance of getting Bernardita back.
“Nakadungog kong niingon akong igsuon nga pangita nala’g lain kay bata paka kita pa ka’g lain (I heard my sister tell him to look for other women),†Isabelo said.
Dalia said that when Bernardita arrived in Cebu, she was reportedly with a foreigner boyfriend.
Visit
Yballe said Bernardita and Christoph arrived in Cebu from Germany last Dec. 27.
Ortiz and Christy May, on the other hand, arrived from Surigao City last Dec. 31 and checked-in at the apartelle.
Christy May, a Kinder I pupil in Surigao City, was with his father’s care because Bernardita, being a German citizen, travels to and from Germany.
Yballe said Bernardita and Christoph visited Ortiz and Christy May last Sunday at the apartelle for the brother and sister to spend time together.
At around 7 p.m., Bernardita left the apartelle to visit her ailing mother in Guba, leaving Christoph behind.
When she went back to the apartelle at past 7 a.m. yesterday, she noticed that the door was locked and that nobody opened it for her.
Thinking that something was wrong inside, Bernardita immediately sought the assistance of the apartelle’s staff to open the room, Yballe said.
It was then that she discovered what happened to Ortiz and her two children.
Autopsy
A team of homicide investigators led by Yballe and personnel from the Scene of the Crime Operations (Soco) 7 led by Senior Insp. David Alexander Patriana did not find any sign of struggle or commotion inside the room.
Judging from the presence of the nylon rope, it is possible that Ortiz had planned the killing beforehand, Yballe said.
The bodies of the children and Ortiz were taken to Cebu Rolling Hills for autopsy to determine the cause of death, particularly that of the children.
Yballe has yet to speak with the administration or staff of the apartelle to know if they heard anything prior to the discovery of the bodies.
No representative from the apartelle was available to issue statement yesterday although the facility’s security personnel were there and prevented reporters from entering or getting near the establishment.
They also used white linens to block reporters and onlookers, who had gathered nearby, from viewing the bodies when these were taken out from the apartelle.
Yballe said Bernardita described Felix to be a good and silent person and that she did not notice any indication that he was planning to kill the children then commit suicide. (JTG with reports from DRT of Sun.Star Superbalita)
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