Youths as prey: 2 slain in Rizal, 1 in Muntinlupa

Three youths were killed and one was wounded in separate attacks involving still-unidentified assailants in Rodriguez, Rizal province, and in Muntinlupa City.

The bodies of two victims were found together on a sloping, grassy lot inside subdivision in Barangay San Jose, Rodriguez, on Wednesday afternoon.

One of them was identified by the Rizal provincial police as Charmaine Villarias, 21, a third year college student of Colegio de Montalban also in Rizal. The other was John Vincent Umiten, reportedly Villarias’ boyfriend from the same school.

Senior Supt. Albert Ocon, acting director of the Rizal provincial police, said both victims were hogtied using shoelaces and bore stab wounds when found at a spot known to locals as burol inside Amityville Subdivision. Their bruised bodies also showed signs that they were struck with a hard object.

The attack possibly happened between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. on Wednesday, Ocon said, noting that Villarias and Umiten were last seen alive by their classmates on Tuesday.

Supt. Hector Grijaldo, Rodriguez police chief, said robbery may be the motive since the victims’ cell phones and cash were missing. The investigation is also checking if the female victim, whose parents were expected to arrive from Iligan City, was also raped.

A subdivision security guard, Mario Bautista, told the police that he was doing his patrols when he noticed an unusual path that parted the tall grass in the area. He then followed it and discovered the bodies.

In Muntinlupa, two 18-year-old residents were on a motorbike on their way home from a party when shot around 1 a.m. on Wednesday.

Jayson Nazareno, a junior high student of Muntinlupa National High School, died on the spot after being hit in the head, police said.

His friend and backrider, Ricky Leuterio, was hit in the back but managed to jump off the motorcycle and run toward a grassy area. Leuterio remained confined in a hospital as of Thursday.

The case investigator, SPO1 Roderick Bausa of the Muntinlupa police, said the victims were traveling on New Compound Road inside the New Bilibid Prison Reservation in Barangay Poblacion when two men also on a motorbike tailed them.

According to Bausa, the killing was possibly “drug related” but only targeted Leuterio, who admitted that he used to be a drug dependent and was once placed in the custody of social workers after he was arrested for a house burglary.

Leuterio maintained that he had already undergone rehabilitation at a facility in Bicutan, Taguig City, the officer said.