MetroBriefs

Man’s jealousy leads to butchery in QC

A butcher allegedly killed his live-in partner and mutilated the body in a fit of jealous rage Sunday night in Quezon City. Donnabelle Gamayon, 30, was found dead with multiple stab wounds inside the couple’s rented room, her right cheek slashed and her left breast with a cut forming an “X.” The police are hunting down 37-year-old Alberto Balde, the victim’s partner of six months.

The killing was discovered around 8:30 p.m. Sunday at a house on Sampaguita Street, Maligaya Park Subdivision, Barangay Pasong Putik. Last month, neighbors heard the couple having frequent fights as Balde suspected Gamayon of seeing another man, according to PO2 Hermogenes Capili. The woman earlier filed a complaint in the barangay hall after he went berserk and destroyed her belongings. She reportedly wanted to leave him but feared for her life after he made threats. They were heard fighting again Sunday night, and Balde was later seen leaving the room holding a knife. Gamayon worked as a security guard and had two children from a previous relationship. Julie M. Aurelio

Pa bearing gifts finds family dead in fire

He bought gifts to surprise his family Sunday night, but Baby Calunod got the shock of his life instead. A fire that raged for just about half an hour in Barangay Barangka-Ilaya, Mandaluyong City, killed his live-in partner Blitz Santos and their three children Andre, 4; Yui, 2; and Chelsea, 1.  SFO1 Edgardo del Pilar Jr. of the city’s fire department said the victims’ charred bodies were found in the bathroom of the house that burned down on San Roque Street, where Calunod served as a caretaker. Santos was found on top of the children, as though “trying to shield them,” Del Pilar noted. “The father was really hysterical. No one could talk to him, not even us. It was very tragic,” the officer said, referring to Calunod. “People died and the fire was not really that big.”

The fire started at 8:50 p.m. inside the bungalow owned by Mario Manalo. Investigators have yet to determine the cause, but the city’s fire marshal, Chief Insp. Nahum Tarroza, suspected that it was either defective Christmas lights or a candle left unattended. Kristine Felisse Mangunay