The Maguad family of Bagontapay, M’lang, Cotabato, was known for their kindness and diligence. Cruz Maguad, recently promoted to Teacher III, and his wife Lovella, a school principal, lived comfortably with their two children: Crizzle Gwynn, 18, and Louis Kenz Craze, 16. Gwynn, known as Gwen, dreamed of becoming a doctor, while Louis, called Boyboy, was described as cheerful and approachable, though occasionally stubborn.

Their seemingly idyllic life took a dark turn involving a young woman they had welcomed into their home. At a family event, Gwen befriended “Janice,” a teenager working as a helper for a relative. Janice shared a heartbreaking story of being an orphan, shuttled through DSWD custody, and tired of caring for young children. Pitying her plight, Gwen asked her parents if Janice could live with them.

Moved by compassion, Cruz and Lovella agreed, fearing Janice might otherwise end up exploited. They picked her up from a 7-Eleven, brought her into their home, and treated her not as a servant, but as family.

They enrolled her in school. Boyboy even gave up his bedroom for her, sleeping in the living room to give Janice privacy. Janice helped with chores and seemed to integrate well into the loving household.

However, a shadow fell over this arrangement in August 2021, just a month after Janice’s arrival. Cruz earned PHP 10,000 from selling a pig, money he kept hidden at home. When his in-laws were hospitalized, Lovella volunteered to stay with them, leaving Cruz at home with the children and Janice. Cruz soon discovered the PHP 10,000 was missing.

He questioned everyone; all denied knowing anything. Suspecting an inside job since the family dogs hadn’t barked at any intruder, they searched the house. The money was found hidden inside Janice’s backpack, stuffed through a slit she had cut and resewn.

Confronted, Janice tearfully apologized. Gwen pleaded with her parents to forgive her, and remarkably, they did, moving past the incident. The three teens—Gwen, Boyboy, and Janice—continued to appear close, even making TikTok videos together.

December 10, 2021. Cruz and Lovella left early for work as usual. The three teenagers were left at home. At 2:40 PM, Janice sent a frantic message to the family group chat: three masked men had broken in and attacked them.

She claimed they had taken Gwen and Boyboy, but she had managed to escape and hide in her room. While supposedly hiding, she also posted pleas for help on Facebook, complete with crying emojis.

Cruz received the message and rushed home, arriving around 3:40 PM. Grabbing his bolo knife for protection, he cautiously entered the gate. He was met with a horrific sight: Boyboy’s lifeless body lay near the front door, partially covered by a bloody blanket, a broken knife handle nearby. The main door was locked.

Cruz circled the house, shouting the children’s names. Finding an unlocked back door, he entered slowly, noticing a bolo knife and broken glass on the floor. In the living room, he found his daughter Gwen, also lifeless. He called out for Janice, who emerged from her room, hair wet as if she had just showered.

Police and SOCO (Scene of the Crime Operatives) arrived, collecting the gruesome evidence: a baseball bat, hammer, knives, a frying pan, and broken bottles.

Janice repeated her story of three masked intruders who killed Boyboy first, then Gwen, while she hid. Investigators noted her room was ransacked, seemingly searched, but nothing was reported missing from the house except Gwen’s cellphone. They also found it strange that Gwen’s body was partially covered with a towel.

Initial police theories considered a land dispute involving Lovella’s family, but her estranged sibling vehemently denied any involvement. Investigators returned to the crime scene with the forensic team. Their findings began to contradict Janice’s account. Forensics determined the crime likely occurred around 2:00 PM, nearly an hour before Janice’s first message.

They also concluded Gwen was likely killed first, based on the state of her body compared to Boyboy’s fresher wounds—directly opposing Janice’s timeline. Near the house, police found a plastic bag snagged in an irrigation ditch containing bloody clothes believed to belong to the perpetrators.

Cruz identified the baseball bat as Boyboy’s and the hammer as one he used for his bamboo furniture craft. He recalled asking Gwen and Janice to put them away in Boyboy’s room (now occupied by Janice) before guests arrived weeks earlier. Only Gwen and Janice knew where they were stored.

The autopsy reports revealed the sheer brutality inflicted upon the siblings. Gwen suffered catastrophic head trauma—half her face crushed, an ear severed, her head nearly detached. Boyboy sustained 51 stab wounds. The horrific injuries led police to describe the scene as something beyond what a “mature person” would inflict.

Cruz found Janice’s calm demeanor and immediate showering after such a traumatic event deeply suspicious. His unease grew when, that same day, Janice began referring to him and Lovella as “Mama” and “Papa.”

Forensic findings further undermined Janice’s story. Her room was messy, but showed no signs of forced entry or a struggle consistent with hiding from intruders. Public suspicion mounted online, fueled by screenshots of disturbing messages allegedly exchanged between Janice and an unidentified person prior to the incident.

In these messages, Janice allegedly expressed a desire to kill people (“It feels good to kill”), listing potential targets and discussing getting away with it by asking for God’s forgiveness.

Faced with the inconsistencies and mounting evidence, Janice eventually provided an extrajudicial confession. She admitted that she and a 17-year-old accomplice, identified only as a “sacristan” (altar server), were responsible for the slayings. She claimed jealousy was the motive—though the exact nature of this jealousy remains unclear, speculation ranges from wanting the siblings’ possessions to a twisted desire to be the Maguads’ sole child.

It was also revealed that Janice was not an orphan as she had claimed. Her parents were alive but separated. Her mother had moved to Davao for work, leaving Janice and her siblings with their father in Cotabato under difficult, impoverished conditions. Janice eventually left her father’s care, leading to her time in DSWD custody. Her fabrication of being an orphan was likely a bid for sympathy.

Due to their ages (Janice was under 18 at the time of the crime), both she and the sacristan were processed under the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006.

They were charged with double murder and turned over to the DSWD’s Bahay Pag-asa youth detention center, rather than a regular jail, sparking outrage from the Maguad family and the public who felt the law was too lenient for such heinous crimes.

In May 2022, approximately five months after the tragedy, both Janice and the sacristan were found guilty. They were sentenced to a maximum penalty under the juvenile justice law, reportedly up to 34 years imprisonment without parole, though specifics vary under the complex sentencing guidelines for minors convicted of heinous crimes.

The verdict brought some measure of relief to Cruz and Lovella Maguad, but their profound grief over the loss of their beloved children remains immeasurable, a wound inflicted by the very person they had welcomed into their family with open hearts.