Couple, son nabbed in Cebu for Canadian’s slay

CEBU CITY, Philippines— A  couple and their son were arrested Friday  for allegedly killing a Canadian national, whose body was found buried in the suspects’ pig pen in a mountain village here.

Rolando Valmoria Aburot, a 46-year-old charcoal maker, admitted to killing 53-year-old Darcy Hanz Reutenberg, a resident of Mandaue City, last June 26..

He, however, cleared his wife Marilyn and 17-year-old son, saying he was alone when he shot the foreigner following an argument inside the victim’s rest house in Barangay Adlaon, Cebu City.

But the police arrested the couple and their son because Marilyn and the teenager knew that Rolando had killed the Canadian.

Rolando told the INQUIRER on Friday that he and Reutenberg were drinking inside the foreigner’s rest house, which was about 300 meters away from their house.

The two, however, got into an argument over the alleged refusal of Reutenberg to pay for his services in constructing the rest house.

Rolando claimed that Reutenberg pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot him. He said he grappled for possession of the gun and eventually shot the victim in the head.

Rolando said he hid Reutenberg’s body in a grassy area near their family’s piggery. He then buried the body the next day.

But homicide investigators belittled the claim of the suspect as they believed that robbery could be the motive of the incident because Rolando took the victim’s laptop and P50,000.

Rolando then gave the laptop to Marilyn, who then sold the unit to a dealer of used electronic products in downtown Cebu City for P8,000. The laptop was later recovered by the police.

Marilyn told the INQUIRER she knew nothing about the killing until several days later when Aburot told her and their son about the crime.

Police said they started looking for the Canadian after he was reported missing by his landlady, Evelyn Rebuscit.

Rebuscit reported to the Basak police station in Mandaue City that Reutenberg had not come home since he left on a motorcycle on the morning of June 25.

SPO1 Jeodito Llena, a member of the police’s Cebu City Public Safety Management, said they conducted a surveillance on the house of Aburot after they received reports that the couple had just bought a carabao and seven piglets.

The neighbors of the couple were also surprised that Aburot had a lot of money to bet in cockfights.

The police also became more suspicious after Aburot was nowhere to be seen at his residence and when neighbors informed them that they found blood in the rest house of Reutenberg.

When the police investigators saw that the couple’s pigpen was recently cemented, they decided to dig underneath it. It was then they discovered the decomposing body of Reutenberg.

Autopsy report later showed that the victim was shot at close range based on the gun powder burns on the wounds.

With the help of barangay councilor Maria Elena Arejola, the police convinced Rolando, through his wife, to surrender to the police at a gasoline station in Barangay Talamban.

PO3 Ruth Bongo said that they were still looking for witnesses to strengthen the case to be filed against the couple and their son.