The police are now preparing multiple murder charges against the primary suspect behind the massacre of four family members, including a six-year-old girl, in Barangay Tangub, Bacolod City.
Maj. Joery Puerto, Bacolod Police Station 8 chief, said Friday, April 9, that they are considering Christian Don Tulot, 39, as the primary suspect of the killings of Jocelyn Espinosa-Nombre, 59; her sister Remedios Jemma Espinosa, 69; their nephew John Michael Espinosa, 35; and his six-year-old daughter because “all of the evidence are pointing at him.”
The bodies of the victims were in a state of decomposition when they were found at their residence on Wednesday, April 7.
Due to the inconsistencies in the statement of Tulot, the second suspect, who supposedly had a hand in the massacre, was released from police custody, Puerto said.
Tulot had recanted the statements he issued to the police.
He initially said he was only a witness to the killing and linked two other accomplices, one of whom was earlier arrested by the police while the supposed third assailant was at large.
The suspect then changed his testimony and insisted he was the only one who perpetrated the murders. But on Friday, April 9, he again said that the two other suspects killed the victims.
Tulot also revealed to the police where he hid the murder weapons – a hammer and cane cutter (spading) – at the victims’ house.
Puerto said that the suspect had already cleaned the weapons when they found them at the back of the house.
On Thursday, April 8, Tulot was charged for illegal possession of drugs found on him when he was arrested.
Puerto said they are focusing their investigation on Tulot as all the evidences are pointing at him as the killer.
He said that they did not find any evidence that implicated the two other suspects to the murders, adding that it was only the testimony of Tulot that linked them to the victims.
He said they are looking at a grudge as the motive for the killings, as the victims had gone to the police station in July 2020 to report that the suspect threatened one of them.
“We are looking at this incident as substantial evidence (for the murder),” Puerto said.
The victims’ belongings including their cellphones were also recovered from the possession of the suspect, he added.*