Man in rape of woman, slay of daughter killed by cops

CITY OF MALOLOS—Noel and Carolyn Marcella were prepared to settle down in a brand new house, and celebrate the seventh birthday of their daughter, Coleen, there on May 1.

But tragedy struck the family early morning on Easter Sunday. Carolyn was stabbed several times and raped by a construction worker who, police said, was a drug user who had just come from a drinking party in Barangay San Juan here.

The attacker also drowned the couple’s daughter at a canal in the village as he left the badly wounded Carolyn for dead.

But Carolyn survived and was rescued by her neighbors.

Hours later, police arrested Joey Montesclaros, 28, after Carolyn identified him as
her attacker and her daughter’s killer. Footage from closed-
circuit television cameras and witnesses’ testimonies also placed Montesclaros at the crime scene.

He was arrested at his grandmother’s house in Barangay Canalate here at 5:20 p.m. Sunday. But two hours later, he was shot dead when he tried to seize the gun of one of his arresting officers inside a government vehicle, according to Supt. Heryl Bruno, Malolos police chief.

Carolyn’s husband, Noel, 37, a revenue collection clerk at the City Hall, said their daughter’s birthday party would have been held at their new house in Rufina Homes, a gated community.

He said Coleen had wanted to go to the beach and collect seashells on her birthday.

Montesclaros was a stay-in construction worker of the subdivision developer, police said.

According to Carolyn, she and her daughter went out biking inside the subdivision at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday when Montesclaros, on another bicycle, attacked them. —CARMELA REYES-ESTROPE