CABANATUAN
CITY, Nueva Ecija, September 15, 2012–The prime suspect in the brutal rape-slay
one-and-half years ago of a 20-year-old Filipino-Swiss was arrested by
operatives of the local police in Palayan City Friday.
Police
Superintendent Eli Depra, station commander, identified the suspect as Felix
Lasala, alias Piting, 43, of Puerto Galera, Occidental Mindoro.
Lasala
is listed as Parañaque's fifth most wanted man with a P200,000 reward for his
arrest.
Lasala
was arrested in his hide-out in Barangay Atate, Palayan by a 15-man arresting
team personally led by Depra himself at 2 pm Friday. The suspect, who was
unarmed, did not resist arrest.
Lasala
was tagged for the rape-slay of Glaudia Schnelli, 20, a graduating student at
the Lyceum University in Manila on December 3,2010. Schnelli was found naked
with multiple stab wounds in her home at Matias Street, Better Living
Subdivision, Parañaque City.
The suspect has since gone
on hiding.
Depra said Lasala has been
employed with the Schnellis and reportedly developed a relationship with the
victim's mother.
A warrant for the crime of
rape with homicide has been issued on February 11, 2012 by Parañaque RTC Branch
257 Judge Rolando How for Lasala's arrest. No bail was recommended for his
provisional liberty.
Depra said before his
arrest, the latter's presence in Palayan was tipped off by an informant who
watched a segment of the TV program “Soco” hosted by veteran broadcaster Gus
abelgas over ABS-CBN.
“Our informant told us that
Lasala closely resembles somebody he has seen in Atate so we laid the dragnet
for his arrest. It turned out that the guy
our informant has sighted was Lasala himself,” he said.
Depra said prior to his
arrest, Lasala has been able to elude lawmen, including agents of the National
Bureau of Investigation who combed his possible hide-outs in Bicol, Batangas,
Marinduque and Camarines.
Depra said that under
tactical interrogation, the suspect owned up to the killing. Lasala said that
he blacked out after a heated confrontation with Schnelli who, he claimed,
called him “useless.”
He said this prompted him
to grab and knife and stabbed the girl repeatedly.
But Lasala denied raping
Schnelli who, he said, he had been taking care of since she was five years old.
He claimed the victim's body was covered only with a towel when recovered
inside their home, which led Soco operatives to conclude she was raped.
“Sir, I did kill her but I
did not rape her,” Depra quoted Lasala as telling him. (Manny Galvez)
No comments:
Post a Comment