蜜桃工作室

MANILA 鈥� The Pasay City Police has filed a case of murder聽against the arrested Taiwanese national who allegedly stabbed and killed his聽live-in partner, who had identified herself as a transgender woman, inside聽the condominium unit they were renting in Pasay City early Saturday morning.

Jayson Santos Lee (identified as Tsai Che-Yu in his passport), 25, was聽presented by the Pasay City Police to the city鈥檚 Prosecutor鈥檚 Office during聽inquest proceedings on Monday. Accompanied by a Public Attorney鈥檚 Office聽(PAO) lawyer, who temporarily represented him during the proceedings, Lee聽was read his rights. State lawyers also explained to him the charge that聽was filed against him for the death of his live-in partner, Ashley Anne聽Reilly, 23, formerly known as Robert William Reilly.

The case investigator, SPO4 Allan Valdez, said Reilly鈥檚 body, which was聽stuffed inside a black luggage bag, was discovered along Coastal Road,聽Cavitex Expressway, Barangay (village) Longos, Bacoor, Cavite, on Saturday聽morning. She had a stab wound in the neck and bruises on her face.

Although she was dumped in Cavite, Valdez said the victim was killed inside聽Unit 1154 of the Tower D Shell Residences Condominium along Edsa at the聽corner of the Sunrise Drive in Pasay City, the condominium unit that the聽couple were renting, early Saturday morning.

Closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage revealed that Lee and and聽Reilly were last seen arguing before they entered their rented unit at聽around 11:40 p.m. Friday. More than an hour after, the Taiwanese national聽was seen leaving the unit, then returning with a big luggage bag.

Valdez said Lee was seen leaving the unit by himself at around 2:22 a.m. but聽carried boxes and the big luggage bag to his car.

鈥淎 security officer even helped him load the luggage bag into his Toyota聽Grandia,鈥� Valdez explained noting that the security officer already聽suspected something was wrong because the baggage was too heavy.

Security personnel were prompted to check his unit after they reviewed CCTV聽videos and discovered that Reilly was not seen leaving the condominium聽building with him. The case investigator said the security team saw that the聽unit was left open and they also noticed a splatter of blood on the curtains聽and the window.

Valdez said the suspect could have stabbed his live-in partner with a聽kitchen knife in the neck and then punched her repeatedly when she went down聽on the floor.

鈥淭he victim was still able to walk from the inside of the unit to the聽terrace where she could have died because that was where we discovered a聽pool of blood,鈥� the investigator explained. He also said that Lee tried to聽clean the crime scene because of a white towel left on the terrace.

The suspect was arrested after he returned to the condo unit at around 1聽p.m. on Saturday. Valdez said the suspect told them that he has been in the聽country for 41 days and that he and Reilly have been a couple for about a聽month.

The investigator also said that he admitted to stabbing Reilly and even took聽the police to the area where he dumped the body of his live-in partner. The聽suspect claimed that he got annoyed after Reilly kept on asking for money聽even though he had nothing more to give.

Reilly鈥檚 mother, Clemencia Del Rosario, told members of the media on Monday,聽about the pain that she and her family have been going through.

Rosario said Lee had apologized to her but she did not accept it. 鈥淚 hope he聽gets whatever he deserves,鈥� the mother said as she asked justice for the聽death of Reilly.

The victim鈥檚 aunt, Juliet Santos, said the family met Lee once when Reilly聽introduced him last May 22. She, however, said that Reilly was only asking聽money from Lee because she needed to have a medical checkup.

鈥淒uring her last group chat with her cousins, she told them that she was not聽feeling well,鈥� Santos said adding that Lee would not allow Reilly to leave聽their condo unit.

The body of the victim has been taken by her family to their residence in聽Mabalacat, Pampanga. 聽SFM