Student killed, chopped up in Tondo; suspect arrested


A man who allegedly killed and mutilated a 19-year-old male student was arrested by operatives of Moriones Police Station 2 (MPS 2) and Manila Police District (MDP) homicide section on Thursday, Dec. 30

MPD director Police Brig. Gen. Leo M. Francisco identified the suspect as Dante Reyes Silva, 42, a resident of Barangay 261, Tondo.

According to the MPD, the victim’s father appeared at the police station on Thursday morning and reported his son missing.

The victim was last seen at around 1:20 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 29, parking his motorcycle on Severino Reyes St. in Tondo before proceeding to Silva's rented house.

The police began reviewing footage from the closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed along Severino Reyes St. and found that at around 11:50 p.m. on Dec. 29, Silva was seen carrying two large white sacks which he loaded into the trunk of a taxi.

At around 5 p.m. the next day, the Bacoor City Police Station called Police Maj. Edwin A. Malabanan of MPS2, informing him that a man’s body chopped into five parts and packed into two white sacks was found in a vacant lot in Barangay Niog 3, Bacoor, Cavite.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MANILA POLICE DISTRICT/ MANILA BULLETIN

The identity of the body was established through the victim’s brother.

Members of the MPS2 and MPD homicide section launched a manhunt which resulted in the arrest of Silva on Zaragosa Street in Barangay 20, Tondo, on Thursday at around 10:30 p.m.

Silva will be presented for inquest for the crime of murder before the Manila City Prosecutor’s Office.