It all started with a female police sergeant’s dream of owning a sports utility vehicle (SUV), and ended with her death and the killing of her eight-year old son at the very hands of her wedding godchildren.

How Police Senior Master Sgt. Diane Mollenido and her son John Ysmael were killed and the manner their cadavers were disposed prompted Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jonvic Remulla to describe the suspect couple as psychopathic. 

According to Remula, the three children of the couple—aged 6, 8, and 10— were present inside their house in Quezon City when the husband shot Mollenido while sitting on the sofa on the night of Jan. 16.

Early morning the following day, Mollenido’s eight-year old son was suffocated to death inside a room next to the room of the suspects’ three children.

The worst part, according to Remulla, was that the suspect couple were with their three minor children when they disposed of Mollenido's body in Bulacan and that of John Ysmael in Tarlac.

He said that they all boarded a Toyota Fortuner with the wrapped cadavers of Mollenido and her son at the back of the vehicle. 

“This is actually hard to believe. How can the parents do all these things in the presence of their children,” said Remulla in a press briefing at Camp Crame in Quezon City.

He said the suspect told their children that they would go to Baguio City but instead, they went to a budget hotel in Quezon City and later in Calamba, Laguna with the cadavers at the back of the car. 

“They have a psychopathic criminal tendency because they have no conscience,” he stressed.

How it started

In December last year, Metro Manila police chief Maj. Gen. Anthony A. Aberin said Mollenido gave P550,000 to the couple for the purchase of a second hand Mitsubishi Montero.

The amount was actually a down payment since Mollenido also sold her Toyota Innova for P450,000 to complete the payment for her dream SUV, according to Aberin.

It was also the couple who took charge in looking for the buyer of Mollenido’s Toyota Innova. 

“The Mitsubishi Montero that she was supposed to buy is non-existent,” said Aberin in the same press briefing.

Based on the investigation, the fear that Mollenido would finally find out that she was scammed was what motivated the couple to plan her murder.

Police said Mollenido's trust and confidence to the couple is reasonable since she is one of their wedding sponsors.

Unknown to Mollenido, the two are already facing multiple cases that include estafa. 

Heartless mom

After the male Panganiban shot Mollenido to death, Police Col. Glenn Silvio, director of the Quezon City Police District, said that his plan was to drop and abandon John Ysmael somewhere in Taguig.

During the planning stage of the couple, Mollenido’s son appeared to be out of the equation as they did not expect that the boy would be her mother.

But Silvio, citing the result of the investigation, said that it was the wife who allegedly insisted that the boy be killed as he was a witness to the death of her mother and that he already saw their faces.

Case closed

With the arrest of the couple and two others, Remulla said the case is already closed.

“This case is considered closed and charges will be filed,” said Remulla.

The only thing to establish is whether or not Mollenido’s husband, a policeman dismissed in 2017 for a case of kidnapping, has something to do with the death of his wife and child.

The Mollenido couple already separated three years ago, according to Remulla.

And what is drawing the suspicion of the police was that the husband was the one who allegedly agreed to have the cadaver of his wife be cremated amid the ongoing investigation. 

And Remulla said that for a man who just lost his son, the reaction of Mollenido’s husband during the investigation is unusual.