A shot heard from inside their room signaled that it was no ordinary tryst.
A couple who had checked into a motel in Cubao, Quezon City, were found dead Friday afternoon in what initially appeared to be a case of drug-fueled murder-suicide.
A day after getting a room at Taxi Line Apartelle, Aiza Cortez, 27, of Pangasinan province and Ryan Guibon, 31, of Gen. Santos City both turned up with gunshot wounds in the head.
Cortez was found dead near the bed while Guibon was found in the bathroom, with two pistols near his body.
Several packets of “shabu” were found in one of their bags. Traces of the illegal drug were also recovered in the toilet.
The police said Cortez and Guibon checked into the apartelle on P. Tuazon Boulevard, Barangay San Roque, around 6:50 p.m. on Thursday.
A shot from inside
Around 4:50 p.m. the next day, motel employee Ignalyn Cabelin went to remind the couple that their time was up. As she was knocking on their door, a shot rang out from inside and a bullet piercing the door hit her in the right leg.
Alerted of the shooting, the motel security called for the police while Cabelin was brought to Quezon Memorial Medical Center.
A responding police team managed to open the door with a duplicate key and found Cortez sprawled on the bedroom floor and Guibon in a seated position inside the bathroom. Both had gunshot wounds in the temple.
A .22-caliber revolver with a live bullet and two spent shells were found on the toilet water tank, while a .45-caliber pistol with an empty magazine was recovered near Guibon’s body. Also on the bathroom floor were a bullet slug and .45-caliber bullet casing.
The couple checked in carrying several bags, one of which contained eight packets of shabu, according to Chief Insp. Rodelio Marcelo, head of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit.
Similar substances
Similar crystalline substances were also recovered from the toilet bowl, SPO1 Jaime Jimena, the case investigator, added. “It was as if there was an attempt to flush the substance (down the toilet),” he noted.
“It is possible that the victims were involved in illegal drugs, although that amount (recovered) was too much for an ordinary user,” Marcelo said.
“No one actually saw who pulled the trigger,” the officer noted, saying investigators were still awaiting results of paraffin tests on the bodies.