A Danish citizen allegedly shot dead his 55-year-old Filipino wife and their dog before stabbing himself and leaping to his death from the 9th floor of a residential building in Manila.
Rene Lindhart Larsen, 55, the owner of Michelle Apartment on Mabini Street in Malate, was declared dead on arrival at Manila Doctors Hospital. His wife Maria Petronila and their German Shepherd “Uzi” were killed instantly after they were both shot twice in the head.
SPO1 Alonzo Layugan of the Manila Police District said the incident happened at around 1:30 p.m. at the couple’s ninth floor apartment unit.
Layugan said that before the incident, Larsen asked their 33-year-old housemaid Jorlyn Caballero to buy soda from a nearby store. As soon as Caballero had left, the Danish man locked the door.
Lacking witnesses, investigators could only surmise that Larsen first shot his wife with a 9mm pistol as she lay on a recliner at the mezzanine. He then went to their bedroom, where Uzi was shot while lying on the couple’s bed.
Larsen then went to the kitchen, grabbed a knife and stabbed himself in the chest. “He may have grown impatient waiting to die and decided to jump off the terrace of his room,” Layugan told the Inquirer.
The officer said that prior to the incident, the housemaid heard the couple having a heated argument. “The couple had no child and apparently treated their pet as part of the family,” Layugan said.
The bodies were brought to St. Yvan funeral parlor for autopsy and safekeeping.