BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines – A six-year-old girl, her father, aunt and grandmother were slain, possibly bludgeoned to death, in what has been described as a massacre that was discovered only today.
Initial information gathered by probers and the local press revealed the victims were related to each other and lived inside the same house and could have been beaten to death by a “hard object,” according to forensic investigators.
Relatives interviewed on the crime scene by reporters identified the victims as Precious Espinosa, six, her father, Michael, and her grandmothers, Gemma, and Jocelyn Nombre.
Local police spokesperson Liberty Indiape said there is a possibility that the killer was “known to the victims.”
She did not provide additional details.
A relative, a woman, (whose name is being withheld by DNX) told local radio station Radyo Bandera that Jocelyn had confided to her weeks before the murders that she was at odds with a nephew who also lived in the same house.
She said the nephew was a 30ish man who would “bring different women to his room.”
There was an instance when Jocelyn saw her nephew whetting a knife, prompting her to lock herself up inside the room.
Josie, a brother of two of the victims who said he already has a suspect but did not give details.
Police Maj. Joery Puerto who heads Poice Station 8 said the victims were all hit in the head with a “hard object” although the murder weapon has yet to be found.
Jocelyn and Precious were found inside the living room of the single-storey house while the two others were found sprawled on the ground near a bamboo hut beside the house.
Locks of hair were found near the body of Jocelyn.
