CEBU CITY – Police here insisted that the murder of Rhea Mae Tocmo was carefully investigated and what they have in custody is the real perpetrator.

POLICE Col. Ireneo Dalogdog (right), chief of the Cebu City Police Office, and Police Major Angelito Valleser, chief of the Labangon Police Station, answer questions from reporters regarding the murder case of Rhea Mae Tocmo. (Calvin D. Cordova)

Police Major Angelito Valleser, chief of the Labangon Police Station, took exception to some insinuations that they conducted a haphazard investigation to protect someone.

Valleser said the Labangon police worked tirelessly until the suspect identified as Simeon Gabutero, 22, admitted to the crime.

“Muingon sila na gidali sa pulis kay naay gustong tagoan. Unsa may tagoan namo na ang tanan ebidensya nagtudlo man ni Simeon (Some are saying that the police conducted a careless investigation to protect someone. What is there to hide when all evidence is pointing to Simeon),” said Valleser.

Valleser said that even without Gabutero’s admission, investigators have gathered enough evidence and witnesses to prove his involvement in the crime.

Gabutero has executed an affidavit of extra-judicial admission where he admitted choking to death Tocmo in a fit of jealousy.

“We have the DNA test, we have witnesses. His mother testified that she saw a carton in his room. His younger brother admitted that they were together when they threw a carton although he didn’t know that it contained the victim’s body,” said Valleser.

Valleser also presented to the media a collection of surveillance footage showing the sequence of events when Gabutero and his younger brother disposed of the carton containing the body.

He  said the police did not force Gabutero to admit the crime as investigators relied on the pieces of evidence linking the suspect to the crime.

“That’s why our investigation lasted for three weeks until it came to a point that Simeon executed an extra-judicial confession,” said Valleser.

“I told him we don’t care with your admission because we have enough evidence,” added Valleser.

Although he admitted the crime, Gabutero contradicted the police’s findings that he was with his younger brother when he dumped Tocmo’s body in Barangay Tisa on July 17.

Gabutero said he brought the box containing Tocmo’s body aboard a motorcycle then transferred to a taxi on his way to Tisa.

“In his extra-judicial affidavit, some of his confession contradicted our findings but we have security camera footage to back-up the result of our investigation,” Valleser said.

The family of Tocmo has issued a statement expressing their disappointment over the progress of the investigation.

The family said they found Gabutero’s extra-judicial confession questionable.

“The police investigation is adding insult to our injury,” the family said.

The family said if Gabutero is indeed the killer, the police should also unmask his cohorts.

Gabutero claimed he and Tocmo became lovers through Facebook last December 5.

The suspect said he only earned P400 a day as a construction worker but he regularly sent money to Tocmo to support her studies only to belatedly discover that the woman did not enroll while she was in Mindanao.

Gabutero said it was only last July 16 that he learned that Tocmo was already in Cebu when his girlfriend had been staying in a boarding house in Barangay Looc, Mandaue City since June 14.

He said he and Tocmo finally met in his boarding house in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City when the woman asked for money from him.

The couple’s first meeting turned tragic when Gabutero became jealous after he learned that Tocmo was communicating with other men through her various Facebook accounts.

The suspect admitted choking the victim to death at the height of their argument.