Employer not yet off the hook in 17-year-old maid’s death

MANILA — Police are considering filing a murder case against the employer of 17-year-old Richelle Sagang whose severed head was found in Makati City while the body was dumped in Bulacan in January, after DNA test results confirmed the victim’s identity.

Senior Supt. Joel Orduña, Southern Police District (SPD) deputy director for administration and head of Special Investigation Task Group “Sagang,” said tests conducted by SPD and Bulacan crime scene operatives yielded positive results.

“Nalipay (I’m happy),” Richelle’s father, Noel Sagang, a farmer from Zamboanga del Norte, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. He had wanted to have Richelle’s body parts joined together.

He was at the Makati police headquarters when he received a call from Bulacan police.

Orduña said the authorities could now pursue the case, after ascertaining the victim’s identity.

He said Richelle’s employer, a friend of the employer, and a fellow housemaid at Ayala Alabang Village in Muntinlupa City were persons of interest in the case since they were the last known companions of Richelle hours before she died.

Orduña withheld their names pending evaluation of evidence and possible filing of the case.

He said the employer did not appear when invited by the police “so we might resort to the filing of the case, but it will still depend on what evidence we have.”

Richelle’s decapitated body was found in Sta. Maria, Bulacan, on Jan. 12 around 11 p.m. About five hours earlier, she was brought by her employer to the security office of Ayala Alabang to notify the guards that she had been terminated for alleged theft.

Richelle’s picture taken by the security guards that day provided leads to investigators as the clothes matched the clothing of the decapitated body.

The head was found floating at a creek in Makati City around 1 p.m.Jan. 14.

Richelle’s father said he went to Ayala Alabang Village last Saturday to get his daughter’s things but the employer, who talked to him through telephone at the guard house, said Richelle took her stuff with her on the day she left.

The employer also said that she dropped Richelle somewhere in Alabang, Sagang told the Inquirer, adding that the employer offered assistance should they need any help./rga