By: The Negros Times
A 22-year-old alleged drug huckster was found brutally killed around 2:30 pm on March 16, 2022 at Granada Public Cemetery in Bacolod City.
The victim was identified as Darwin Nuñez, a resident of Purok Pedring, Brgy. Estefania, Bacolod City.
According to Police Captain John Cristopher Masangkay, chief of Bacolod City Police Station 5, the victim's relatives has found NuNez laying dead on top of a tomb at the said cemetery with a slit on his throat and exposed intestines after searching for him overnight since losing contact with the victim the night prior.
Masangkay added that a 18-year-old neighbor of the victim whose name is withheld revealed to the authorities that they went inside the cemetery past 9PM the night before the body was found to sell Marijuana to two unidentified men. Based on the story of the neighbor who is now considered a witness by the police, they had a transaction last night with two people in the cemetery where they were allegedly selling marijuana and he was Nuñez’s driver.
The teenager and the victim first took the money from the buyer and took them to pick-up the marijuana and when they returned to the cemetery to hand over the drug, one of the buyers claimed that he might've dropped his wallet and so Nuñez accompanied the men back to the cemetery yard to search. The man also promised Nuñez that they would give him an extra money in the event they find his wallet, the witness said.
The witness also told the police that he stayed in a distance by the cemetery and heard Nuñez's voice screaming in fear "waay ko to ya" (I didn't do it) — thinking it was a buy-bust operation, the teenager quickly left the area.
Masangkay said it is possible that the unidentified men involved in the transaction with Nuñez and the teenager has committed the crime.
The victim's cellphone was also recovered at the crime scene, showing messages of the drug transaction with Nuñez. Police at the crime scene also recovered a kitchen knife, the alleged weapon of the crime, which will be subject to laboratory examination as well as the helmet left behind one of the suspects who were believed to have escaped on a motorcycle.
There is a high possibility that the suspects knew the victim personally, the police said. Bacolod City Police Station 5 is now collaborating with other Police Stations in the area if Nuñez has a record to connect with the crime and get more leads and help identify suspects.