Duo tagged in 86-year-old’s death

The police have filed charges against a woman and her male partner who allegedly killed an 86-year-old widower inside a motel in Novaliches, Quezon City, last month.

Sarah Servas and Bulacan resident Jamil Dumiala—also known as Jomarie Maning—were accused of conspiring to rob and kill Isidro Perez on July 11. They have yet to be arrested.

The victim was found dead due to multiple stab wounds three hours after he checked in with a woman, later identified as Servas.

The police said that Dumiala arrived at the motel on Quirino Highway five minutes after the victim and Servas checked in.

Dumiala claimed he was the victim’s son and demanded to be allowed into the couple’s room, claiming his “father” had asked him to do so. The staff complied after he paid the extra person rate.

After about an hour, Servas and Dumiala left, taking with them the victim’s pouch bag containing an undetermined amount of cash plus jewelry worth more than P200,000.

The motel staff found the victim’s body afterward when he failed to check out at the end of three hours.

According to Quezon City Police District homicide chief Senior Insp. Elmer Monsalve, the victim’s son, Manuel, recognized Servas from the footage taken by the motel’s security camera.

Manuel said Servas had befriended his father, even going to the former’s house.

Dumiala, on the other hand, was identified after the police learned who Servas was. Investigators found out that the couple had a house near the motel but when probers went there several hours after the crime, the two had already left.

Monsalve said that based on their initial investigation, the duo’s modus operandi called for Servas to befriend old men and then take them to an isolated place where they would be robbed by Dumiala.

Monsalve said the police believed that the duo had victimized many men and Perez was killed because he tried to fight Dumiala off.