COPS EYE GRUDGE IN COUPLE’S MURDER

Estranged wife of slain drug lord, live-in partner shot dead in Minglanilla; cops eye involvement of slain drug lord’s common-law partner

Two people, including the estranged wife of a slain drug pushing suspect, were shot and killed inside their house in Sitio Bacay, Barangay Tulay in the southern town of Minglanilla late Tuesday.

Haide Franza and Rolando Paglinawan sustained fatal gunshot wounds on the head and abdomen. Police found their bodies inside the home they were sharing at 11:50 p.m. last Tuesday.

Franza is the estranged wife of Juvie Franza, an allegedly notorious drug pusher who was killed in a buy-bust by operatives last February. Police believed the murder may have been related to a grudge between Franza and her late husband’s common-law wife, Evangeline Briones.

Briones has filed a complaint against Minglanilla police officers before the Commission on Human Rights, claiming they were responsible for her partner’s death.

PO2 Arnel Resente, the investigator in charge of the case, told SunStar Cebu that Franza and Paglinawan were reportedly talking in their living room when the gunman came in and shot them using a .45 caliber pistol. The man remains unidentified.

Franza sustained three bullet wounds on her abdomen, while Paglinawan was shot in the back of his head. Resente said the suspect was able to flee the crime scene easily as the sitio had numerous escape routes. Resente said that based on eyewitness accounts, Franza, along with Paglinawan, reportedly starting living in her late husband’s house again following his death last February.

This led to Franza having arguments with Briones over the management of her late husband’s personal effects and properties.

Briones has not been seen since she filed the complaint against the local police.

Resente said they have considered Briones as a possible suspect but they are not discounting the possibility that another person may have killed Franza and Paglinawan.