MANILA, Philippines—The stench of death led to the discovery Friday afternoon of the body of an 88-year-old widow inside her house in Manila.
Manila Police District homicide section investigators theorized that Cresencia Villoria of 2269 Granate Street, Barangay 801 Zone 87, in San Andres Bukid, could have tripped, hit her head and died from the fall.
Police Officer 2 Jose Gumilan, case investigator, said that Villoria lived alone in her house and, a week earlier, had complained of faintness to her relatives who lived nearby.
Gumilan said that Villoria’s neighbor Jose Policarpio Jr. found the octogenarian’s body at 3:45 p.m. Friday after he detected a foul odor coming from the old woman’s house.
When discovered, Villoria’s body was already in an advanced state of decomposition, lying face down on the bathroom floor and clad only in a faded t-shirt.
Policarpio immediately reported his discovery to the neighborhood watch who then sought police assistance.
Gumilan said that the old woman was last seen alive on April 30 by her niece Martina Viray, who also lived in the same neighborhood. Viray told investigators that when she dropped by the elderly woman’s house, Villoria asked her to buy some medicine because she was feeling weak.
Villoria’s other neighbors also complained of a foul odor coming from one of the houses, but it was only Policarpio, whose home was across the street from the octogenarian’s, who decided to check it out.
The body was taken to the St. Yvan funeral parlor for autopsy.