The lifeless body of a 37-year-old woman who appeared to have been strangled to death was found in a grassy area beside a remote barangay road in Calape on Wednesday afternoon.
According to Major Julius Garcia, chief of the Calape Police Station, the remains of Lucina Cuago, 37, of Barangay San Isidro, Calape were found by her husband in Sitio Catigcan, some two kilometers away from their home at 1:40 p.m.
“Very isolated ang area wala siya’y mga bay or mga taw didto,” said Garcia.
Cuago was on her routine early morning bike ride when she did not go home several hours later prompting her husband to look for her and alert the police at 11 a.m. Two hours later, he found Cuago’s lifeless body.
Garcia said that they saw bruises in the victim’s shoulder and neck indicating that she may have been choked or strangled.
“Mura’g gigamit ang strap sa iyang helmet sa pag strangulate,” Garcia said.
Police have yet to receive results of a medical examination which would determine if the victim was raped or not. But initial police investigation indicated that her clothes appeared to have been “intact.”
“Dili pa ta ka-ingon kung na rape siya kay wala pay resulta sa atoang crime laboratory pero based sa among pag tan-aw didto, intact man iyang sanina ug iyang underwear ug ang iyang upper garment, mura’g wa hilabti. But we cannot conclude yet na wala nahitabo so atong hulaton ang examination,” he said.
According to Garcia, they are looking into multiple possible angles behind Cuago’s killing including her lending racket.
They are also investigating several “notorious” personalities in the town as part of efforts to track down her killer but Garcia noted that none so far have been considered as suspects.
The fatality, based on her husband’s statement, did not have valuables with her such as her wallet and mobile phone. She was noted not to bring any valuable when going on her routine bike ride.
Garcia said that investigators are still continuing their probe on the case by looking for closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV) possibly mounted on the way or near the crime scene and interviewing those close to the victim.
Cuago was a stay-at-home mother who sidelined as a small-scale lender.
She left behind two daughters aged 13 and 15. (A. Doydora)