Was it a case of robbery or revenge?
A 69-year-old real estate broker was found dead inside a motel room in Mandaluyong City before midnight on Monday.
According to the police, Don Relova, a resident of Sta. Ana, Manila, was poisoned and struck on the head with a hard object.
His body was found inside the Sogo Hotel on Kalentong Street in Barangay Pag-asa.
All his valuables, however, were missing, including his jewelry, cell phone and a wallet containing cash and identification cards.
Chief Insp. Jaime Masilang, head of the Mandaluyong police investigation unit, said the victim checked in by himself at 4:49 p.m. on Monday.
Six hours later, the motel supervisor found him lying lifeless on the bed in his underwear. He had a head wound while there were gray powder stains on his mouth and cheeks.
Masilang said an empty bottle of rat poison was found in the toilet which led them to believe that he could have been poisoned before he was hit in the head with a heavy object.
Also recovered beside the body was a letter which referred to the victim in unflattering terms.
Masilag said the letter writer, who had yet to be identified by the police, described Relova as a bad person without any sense of delicadeza in addition to being a miser and a lecher.
Based on the initial results of the police investigation, a check of the footage taken by one of the motel’s closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras showed a woman entering the victim’s room followed by a man an hour later.
The two came out of the room after a few minutes.
Masilang said they were waiting for the results of the autopsy conducted on the victim’s body to determine his cause of death.
“We still can’t give any conclusions about the motive for the killing until the investigation is complete,” he added.
According to him, they were coordinating with motel employees to obtain a copy of the CCTV footage which could help them identify the victim’s killers.