A midwife of the Cortes Municipal Health Office who has been tagged as the alleged mastermind in the killing of her husband is now under the custody of the Cortes Police Station after she was arrested in Pamplona, Negros Oriental last week.
Suspect Antoinette Epe, a resident of Barangay La Paz in Cortes, has been accused of ordering the murder of her husband Jovencio Epe, 47, who was found dead with multiple stab wounds all over his body inside their house on November 19, 2016.
According to Cortes police investigator PO3 Joel Orapa, Antoinette was arrested by joint operatives of Cortes police intelligence section and Pamplona Police Station after she was spotted by authorities joining fiesta revelries in the said Negros town.
Antoinette was taken into police custody through an arrest warrant issued by Judge Lindecita Arcamo of the Regional Trial Court Branch 1 in Tagbilaran City on May 22, 2017.
Orapa said that another suspect, identified as Arnold Paler, Antoinette’s purported lover, had also previously been arrested for alleged involvement in Jovencio’s murder after voluntarily surrendering to authorities.
However, Paler, a casual employee of the local government unit of Cortes, posted a P280,000-bail for his temporary liberty after executing an affidavit which made him a state witness in the case.
According to Orapa, Paler was ordered by Antoinette to kill Jovencio but the former instead hired an assailant to carry out the murder.
One “Goy-Goy” Flores was identified by Paler to authorities as the victim’s killer.
Flores, who is reportedly a resident of Tagbilaran City, is a now subject of a police manhunt while a warrant for his arrest has also been issued.
Meanwhile, police are looking at “love triangle” as the motive behind the murder of Jovencio due to Antoinette’s relationship with Paler. (Allen Doydora)