Lorna Lim Varona was a titan of the Filipino community in Dubai. A savvy and hardworking entrepreneur, she was a true matriarch, known not only for the business empire she had built from scratch but also for her boundless generosity. Her bakery was a hub for overseas workers, a taste of home, and she was a pillar of support for countless Filipinos seeking jobs or financial help.

So, when the 51-year-old businesswoman vanished without a trace on August 26, 2012, a wave of shock and disbelief washed over the community she had served for decades.

Lorna’s was a classic immigrant success story. She arrived in Dubai from the Philippines in 1978 with big dreams. There, she met and married a fellow Filipino, Pablo Varona, and while raising four children, her entrepreneurial spirit flourished. She started a small Filipino bakery in 1987, which, through her hard work and business acumen, grew into a beloved local institution.

She eventually sold it to dream bigger, establishing four more successful companies in Dubai. Through it all, she was known as a strict but fair and incredibly compassionate person, a disciplinarian mother who taught her children the value of hard work, and a benefactor who never turned away a person in need.

On the day she disappeared, Lorna left her home to meet someone, and simply never returned. After her husband, Pablo, filed a missing person’s report, a frantic search began. Nearly a week later, her Jaguar was found in an abandoned lot in an industrial area in Sharjah. Inside the trunk, authorities made the devastating discovery of Lorna’s remains. The investigation revealed she had suffered a brutal attack, and her life had been ended by six wounds from a sharp object.

The community was left to wonder who could commit such a violent act against a woman so widely respected. The investigation, however, quickly zeroed in on a suspect, thanks to a crucial piece of information from her husband. Pablo recalled that on that fateful day, Lorna was on her way to meet a longtime friend to finally collect on a significant and long-overdue debt.

The suspect was a man the Varona family had known and trusted for over 20 years: Ricardo “Eric” Bitchavez, a Filipino interior designer. Eric had been a close family friend and business partner. When he fell on hard times, Lorna, in her characteristically generous way, had loaned him money repeatedly. Over time, his debt grew to a staggering 250,000 dirhams (approximately $68,000). As collateral for the final portion of the loan, Lorna held onto Eric’s passport.

This passport became the point of contention. Eric, now unemployed, desperately needed it for a new job opportunity but was unable to repay his massive debt. Lorna, a firm businesswoman, refused to return it until the loan was settled.

Desperate to erase his debt and retrieve his passport, Eric devised a plan. He spent two weeks meticulously planning a final, tragic meeting. He lured Lorna to his apartment under the pretense that he would finally pay her back in full.

When she arrived, an argument ensued. Eric, with no intention of paying, attacked his friend and benefactor. In his confession, he admitted to the act, describing how he placed her in her car, drove to his own wife’s house to have lunch as if nothing had happened, and later abandoned the vehicle in the industrial lot.

In court, Eric showed no remorse. In a shocking move, his defense strategy was to assassinate Lorna’s character, attempting to portray the generous woman as a greedy, predatory loan shark whose interest rates were the cause of his family’s suffering. He blamed her for his own desperation, essentially arguing that she had brought her fate upon herself.

The judge soundly rejected this defense, stating that no amount of debt or personal desperation could ever justify such a brutal act. Eric was found guilty and sentenced to a minimum of 15 years in prison, to be followed by deportation.

The verdict brought a close to the case, but for the family and community, it left a painful lesson about a beloved matriarch whose greatest virtue—her generosity—was tragically turned against her by a friend she had trusted for two decades.