Spa employee’s body found in shallow grave in Cebu

CEBU CITY, Philippines — A woman working for a spa was found dead in a shallow grave on Monday in a mountain barangay (village) here.

The victim identified as Maricris Villadolid, 24, a therapist for the Holiday Spa in Cebu City and a resident of Barangay (village) Agsungot, had contusions on different parts of her body, with her hands and feet tied with a rope, said Police Officer 2 Julius Regis, homicide investigator of the Cebu City police.

Richard Taburnal, live-in partner of Villadolid, told investigators he became worried when the victim failed to return home from work Saturday.

Regis said Villadolid whose duty at the Holiday Spa ended at 10 p.m. usually arrived home near midnight.

He added that Villadolid had gone home after her duty at the spa together with a co-employee who lived a few meters from where she was buried.

Taburnal went to the Talamban Police Station to report that Villadolid did not come home on Saturday, as expected.

According to Regis, Taburnal had scoured the usual route of Villadolid in going home to determine what could have happened to the latter.

Taburnal saw a fresh-looking mound located near several bamboo trees and located about 100 meters from the nearest house and almost a kilometer from their house, Regis said.

He added that Taburnal felt suspicious and asked his relatives to help dig the mound and found Villadolid’s body. They did not find any wallet or money on Villadolid.

Taburnal also told the police that he suspected his cousin, Arnel Padillo, might have been involved in Villadolid’s killing.

Taburnal said that Padillo allegedly approached him Saturday morning to sell copra but he told the latter to wait for Villadolid since it was the latter’s payday.

Although Taburnal has implicated Padillo, Regis admitted that they had no evidence to support the allegation.

When the police tried to locate Padillo, they could not find him, he added.