NBI-7 finds mother’s body buried under stockroom

The remains of a 53-year-old mother were retrieved yesterday from a freshly dug hole in her residence in Cebu City, shocking neighbors who found out that she had been murdered in anger by her son.

Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) said they found Rubirosa Tenchavez buried under the stockroom of the house and that her 25-year-old son Christian has confessed to the crime.

The son said he slashed his mother’s throat with a knife three days earlier after they quarreled, and that he had tried to hide her remains at home.

Christian, a nursing graduate, lived alone with his mother in Maria Gochan Subdivision. He was earlier taken into custody by the NBI Thursday night.

A male neighbor whom Christian had first asked to help carry her lifeless body refused. His account was told to the NBI by his mother.

NBI-7 agents said Christian later executed an extrajudicial confession that he had slashed his mother’s throat twice with a knife at dawn of Tuesday.

“He was angry at her after she said she wanted to drive him out of the house,” NBI 7 agent Arnel Pura told reporters.

Pura said the mother had scolded the young man, blaming him for a damaged floor tile and a computer.

Christian said he went to the kitchen, took a knife and slashed his mother’s throat then threw the knife in a culvert outside their house.

Neighbors earlier told Cebu Daily News domestic spats between mother and son were a familiar scene.

Christian, who has the nickname “Lucky,” is the youngest son of Rubirosa. His two other brothers work abroad as nurses. Christian graduated last year with a degree in nursing.

Rubirosa was supposed to celebrate her 54th birthday on Sept. 7. Her marriage to her husband was previously annulled.

The attempt to hide evidence of the killing at home required help.

Christian said he paid a basketball buddy and a trisikad driver P300 each to dig a three-foot-deep hole in the stockroom.

They thought it was just another excavation job for a septic tank.

Little did Randy Vilvestre and Arnel Omerez know that the hole was to be a secret grave.

Vilvestre, an electrician, said he doubted the hole was for a septic tank.

“The house already has a septic tank. They don’t need another one because they are only two living in the house,” he recalled later.

NBI 7 agents had to wait to secure a court warrant to enter the house yesterday and look for the secret burial hole.

The residence is 20 meters from the Mambaling police precinct and the barangay hall.

Parricide charges will be filed against Christian today before the Cebu city prosecutor’s office.

The search was led by NBI-7 Regional Director Edward Villarta who had a search warrant issued by Regional Trial Court Judge Soliver Peras of Branch 10.

The hole was about four by four feet, and covered with soil and cement. Three of Rubirosa’s siblings were present when the body was exhumed by the NBI – 7 forensic team.

Christian was assisted by lawyer Al Rey Ouano of the Public Attorney’s Office in issuing his extra-judicial confession.

In the document, Christian said he came home drunk last Tuesday dawn and was eating noodles in the living room when he was confronted by his mother who castigated him about a broken floor tile and a computer unit that he reportedly destroyed.

Christian said he went to the kitchen, took a knife and slashed his mother’s throat twice, before throwing the knife out of the house.

The NBI-7 has not yet found the knife.

Christian said he first took his mother’s body to his room upstairs so no one would notice.

He then went to a neighbor Carmelo Echevalla for help. He didn’t tell him what happened but Carmelo saw the mother lying lifeless on a sofa in the living room.

“He told me he punched his mother in a confrontation and asked me to wear plastic gloves so I could help him carry something in plastic,” Echevalla said.

The neighbor said he got scared and ran away.

Echevalla eventually told his mother what she saw. They waited for two days before reporting it to the NBI.

“I’m a mother too. I pity the victim,” said Echevalla’s mother.

She said they hesitated first to report the incident after her son told her that Christian threatened to kill anyone who would talk about what happened to his mother.

Last Wednesday, Christian persuaded the 42-year-old Vilvestre and Omerez to help him set up a septic tank in the stockroom.

They were paid P300 each for their labor and worked until 6 p.m. Wednesday. The two laborers even joked that Christian must be planning to build a vault to store something valuable.

Last Thursday, the NBI-7 arrested Christian near the Salazar Institute of Technology in Cebu City where he finished a nursing course.

Rey Cuizon, a driver at the barangay hall, told Cebu Daily News that he accompanied NBI agents in looking for Christian.

Christian had a boardinghouse in sitio Little Baguio just under the Mambaling flyover.

Barangay Councilor Wilfredo Go, who lives four houses away from the Dalangin residence, described Christian’s mother as a private person.

He said Rubirosa would always greet him when he passed by their home on his way to the barangay hall.

Rubirosa’s sister, Evelyn, said she had lunch with Christian in an eatery outside the barangay hall last Thursday noon.

“He told me that his mother is in Bohol and that she would return later today (Thursday),” Evelyn said.