Mystery call leads to grave of missing man

Eight months after he was reported missing by his wife, the skeletal remains of a local fisherman were discovered buried in a vacant lot in barangay Punta Engaño, Lapu-Lapu City.

Reterson Geneston, 32, was positively identified by his wife Cristina through his short pants and missing teeth.

Police said that a neighbor of Cristina’s sister, Ofelia Brigildo, was tipped by an anonymous caller around 6 a.m. yesterday about where to find Geneston.

Following directions, the sisters, accompanied by a male neighbor, dug near the fence of a vacant lot owned by Boboy Mancao.

They found a sack of bones of a man’s lower limbs dressed in black short pants. Cristina said they were the same pair her husband wore the last time she saw him in May 12, 2011.

More bones and human remains were found in another sack. The skull was placed atop the sack with three big stones.

Cristina reported her husband’s disappearance two days after he failed to come home on May 14. She first thought he had drowned at sea.

Based on the wife’s account, police are looking into a possible connection with complaints of theft of goats grazing in the nearby 11-hectare private lot where her husband used to gather firewood.

Yesterday, when police revisited the site there were no goats or guards there anymore, said PO2 John Carlo Jucotan.

He said police may invite the land owner or caretaker to shed light on the fisherman’s death.