Suicide case yields more victims as bodies found
ROXAS CITY—A woman abandoned by her live-in partner vented her anger on her employer and her two children, killing them before killing herself in a Capiz town, according to police Wednesday.
The bodies of the four were found around 3 p.m. on Tuesday in a state of decomposition, police said.
They were identified as Ramona Gafate, 70; Wilma Fetalino, age unknown and Getafe’s housemaid; and Suwie, 5 and Lorie, 3, Fetalino’s children.
Gafate was aunt of Capiz Archbishop Jose Advincula. It was in her house in Barangay Poblacion, Dumalag town in Capiz where her body and those of Fetalino and her children were found.
Police said they believed Fetalino had killed Gafate and the two children before killing herself.
Suicide note
Insp. Leonard Amar, Dumalag police chief, said investigators found a suicide note bearing the name of Fetalino and in which she was supposedly asking for forgiveness from Gafate’s relatives for killing the 70-year-old retired teacher.
The killings were discovered only after a neighbor of Gafate, a certain Martin Frac, 60, was drawn by foul odor to Gafate’s house.
Police quoted Frac as saying he went to Gafate’s house and it appeared empty. Frac, police said, forced himself into the house and found Gafate’s body lying on her bed and those of Fetalino and the two children underneath.
Gafate and the children had multiple stab wounds in the body and their throats were slashed, according to Supt. Salazar Sumague, head of the Capiz police’s scene of the crime investigating team.
Fetalino, said Sumague, had knife wounds in the wrist and throat. Her body was found next to that of one of her children, Suwie.
Forgiveness
Police said investigators also found a blood-stained knife in the hand of Fetalino. A bolo and axe were found in Gafate’s room.
In the suicide note, Gafate was asking for forgiveness also from her father, Alejandro. Alejandro, in an interview with local radio station dyOW on Tuesday, said the penmanship on the note appeared to be similar to his daughter’s handwriting.
Alejandro said his daughter had been depressed after her live-in partner, whose identity was not revealed by police, left her, taking with him Fetalino’s savings.
Police said this could have enraged Fetalino, driving her into suicidal rampage.
If you or someone you know is in need of assistance, please reach out to the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH). Their crisis hotlines are available at 1553 (Luzon-wide landline toll-free), 0917-899-USAP (8727), 0966-351-4518, and 0908-639-2672. For more information, visit their website: (https://doh.gov.ph/NCMH-Crisis-Hotline)
Alternatively, you can contact Hopeline PH at the following numbers: 0917-5584673, 0918-8734673, 88044673. Additional resources are available at ngf-mindstrong.org, or connect with them on Facebook at Hopeline PH.
