Picache mom’s killer alters story: ‘I did it alone’

Michael Flores, self confessed killer of mother of actress Cherry Pie Picache was escorted at the DOJ for inquest proceeding. TETCH TORRES-TUPAS/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—He was no mere “lookout.”

The main suspect in the killing of the mother of veteran actress Cherry Pie Picache changed his story, saying he acted alone and had no accomplices in the gruesome crime.

A day after his arrest in Laguna province, Michael Flores was brought to the Department of Justice for inquest proceedings for robbery and homicide on Thursday, during which he took a slap from an emotional Picache who saw her mother’s self-confessed killer for the first time.

In a four-page extrajudicial confession, Flores admitted killing 75-year-old Zenaida Sison—his former employer—while high on “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride).

“The truth is that it was only me who did it,” the 29-year-old Flores told reporters. “I did not mean to kill her.”

In his confession, Flores said that he decided to break into Sison’s Quezon City residence on Sept. 19, after sniffing shabu and going around the area picking through garbage heaps for recyclable items he could sell for quick cash.

He recalled climbing over the gate, sneaking through the garage door and the ground-floor entrance. He then rummaged through the drawers where he knew jewelry were being kept.

He later went to the second floor, entered Sison’s room and found cash, a cell phone and other valuables. Sison suddenly entered the room and began screaming upon seeing him.

“It was at that point that I attacked her and killed her because she fought back,” he said, adding that he hit her in the head with a piece of wood torn off from the door and then stabbed her with a knife he took from the kitchen.

From there, he went to another room, changed clothes and left the house with his loot. Sison’s body was found by Picache and her driver later in the afternoon.

Flores said he was one of the helpers occasionally hired by Sison for the past six months to work at her house on Dr. Lazcano Street, Barangay Paligsahan, during the daytime.

When questioned after his arrest, Flores initially claimed that he merely acted as a lookout for two more men who killed Sison and robbed her house, according to the police.

But according to Chief Insp. Rodelio Marcelo of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, the suspect “was just riding on media reports when he made his first statement claiming he had two accomplices. That is contradictory to the evidence we recovered, including fingerprints and footprints in the house that belonged only to him.”

Flores faces a third complaint—trespassing—from a female acquaintance he approached for shelter in Garden Villas 3 subdivision in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, Marcelo said.

“She hadn’t seen him since 2009. When he suddenly showed up at her house and insisted on coming in, she got scared that he might hurt her. So she just agreed to let him in, calming him down by giving him something to eat,” the official said. “But she did it against her will.”

The homeowner then asked someone to keep watch on Flores as she went out to report him to the police, Marcelo said.

The Sta. Rosa police earlier said they were able to locate Flores’ whereabouts thanks to a tip from an informant.

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