Injured	Killed
0	1

Date: 19 June 2010
Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/suspect-s-wife-killed-home

THE wife of a suspected drug lord was gunned down yesterday morning.

Julieta Andan Retuerto was opening the gate of her house in Barangay Pagsabungan, Mandaue City around 7:45 a.m., when the attack happened.

According to the initial investigation, two men knocked at the gate while she was having coffee inside.

Click here for Election 2010 updates

Neighbors believe she peeped through the small opening in the gate and briefly talked with the two men. When she opened her gate, four gunshots rang out.

When police arrived, they saw she had been shot in the forearm, chest, neck and forehead.

Retuerto, 47, died on the spot.

Police found an envelope containing fake P1,000 bills by the gate.

Chief Insp. Elmer Fernandez, Investigation and Detective Management Bureau (IDMB) head, said they are looking at revenge as a motive for the shooting.

He said Retuerto constantly warned her children to check who their visitors were, before allowing them in, but that advice failed to save her life.     

The victim’s daughter Jang Jang, in a radio dySS interview, said her mother received a threat over the phone last May. The caller said he would get back at her and her family, whom he blamed for the arrest and incarceration of his brother.

Police already know who the caller is, but they are withholding his identity while the investigation is ongoing.

Jang Jang said her mother kept a small notebook, which is now with IDMB investigators, that has the names and contact numbers of alleged drug personalities.

Based on witnesses’ accounts, the victim did not appear to suspect the two men outside her gate were armed and were there to kill her.

Police also believe the envelope with the fake bills served as “bait.” The two men must have shown it to her, which made her open the gate.

After they shot her, they tossed the envelope aside then got on a motorcycle and left.

None of the neighbors could describe the two men.

Jang Jang admitted her stepfather Jovencio Retuerto is in jail for a drug-related charge.

Jovencio, 47, told Sun.Star Cebu he was arrested last Feb. 9 in Barangay Pagsabungan by the City Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operation Task Force, for alleged drug pushing and possession.

Jovencio, who is detained at the Mandaue City Jail, said he was involved in illegal drugs before his arrest.

He also asked police not to reveal the name of the caller who threatened his wife, as this could endanger his family.

Jovencio and the victim have two children, aged 18 and 16. Jang Jang is Julieta’s daughter from her first husband.

A police officer who requested anonymity said the victim was once in their “order of battle” years back. Her house reportedly had security cameras to protect her.

Years later, she became a police informant, which resulted in numerous arrests of big-time pushers.
Julieta hailed from Ipil, a town in Zamboanga Sibugay Province.