2 suspects in murder of UST alumna nabbed in Cavite

Cyrish Magalang

Police on Friday arrested two suspects in the murder of a 20-year-old woman in Bacoor City, Cavite.

Cavite police director Senior Supt. John Bulalacao said tricycle driver Roel Gacita, 24, and his brother Rollyn, 27, a vegetable vendor, were arrested at their houses in Barangay Molino 6 in Bacoor City around 6 a.m.

The two were suspects in the murder of Cyrish Magalang, a cum laude graduate of the University of Sto. Tomas.

Police said Magalang was on her way home from work at SM Mall of Asia when she was held up by the suspects in Bacoor.

A witness last saw Magalang boarding Roel’s tricycle  around 11 p.m. on Oct. 30. Bulalacao said the suspects both admitted to the crime. He said Rollyn held the victim with a screw driver. The suspects then took her to a farm in Molino 7.

A farmer found Magalang’s body the next morning inside a hut in the farm. Police said she had 49 stab wounds in different parts of her body and her face crushed with a hollow block. The victim’s hands were tied with a plastic straw and her underwear pulled down, although the autopsy report has yet to confirm if she was raped.

Police found the screw driver used in the murder from the scene and the victim’s bag in a nearby creek.

Bulalacao said the suspects were charged with the complex crimes of robbery with homicide, which are nonbailable and carry the maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Maricar Cinco, Inquirer Southern Luzon