Paranaque fire deaths, a crime of passion?

By Perseus Echeminada, The Philippine Star

Posted at 04/25/2015 9:50 AM | Updated as of 04/25/2015 9:52 AM

MANILA, Philippines – Homicide investigators are looking into the possibility that the killing of three women, whose bodies were found when a fire destroyed their house in Parañaque City, was a “crime of passion,” an official said yesterday.

Arson investigators said the house was set on fire to cover up the killing of Charina Luyas, her daughter Charline and helper Joy Amante, city police chief Senior Superintendent Ariel Andrade told The STAR.

The victims sustained severe head injuries and were apparently killed before the house was torched.

“If the motive was robbery, the suspects could have just tied the victims and left them unharmed (which is) the usual modus operandi of robbers,” he said.

Andrade said investigators, while waiting for the autopsy report, are reviewing surveillance footage to see who had gone in and out of Multinational Village.

“The way the crime was committed showed extreme anger, which indicates that the (killers) may have a strong grudge against the victims,” he said.

A neighbor of the victims reported seeing three persons, one riding a bicycle, loitering near the house.

The victims may have known their killers since there was no forced entry. There are indications that Luyas and her daughter had been dragged to the maids’ quarters, where the bodies of the three women were found, Andrade said.

Police officers also found spent bullet shells in the house and bloodstains in the maids’ quarters.