Tagaytay City, with its cool climate and stunning views of Taal Volcano, is a premier destination for tourists seeking a peaceful getaway. But in July 2024, the city’s tranquil image was shattered by a brutal triple murder inside a luxury hotel, a crime that would take the lives of an Australian national and his two Filipina companions. The case has since been mired in a controversial investigation, leaving two families an ocean apart united in grief and a frustrating search for justice.

The victims were enjoying the final days of a dream vacation. David Fisk, a 57-year-old Australian business executive, and his Filipina partner, Lucita “Lucy” Barleston, had just spent time in Bali and visited Lucy’s daughter and grandchildren in Mindoro. For the last leg of their trip, they, along with another female relative, checked into The Lake Hotel Tagaytay.

On the morning of July 11, 2024, hotel staff, realizing the guests had not checked out, entered their room and made a gruesome discovery. All three victims were dead on the floor. They had been bound with electrical cords and their mouths were sealed with tape. An autopsy would later confirm that the two women had been strangled, while David Fisk had been stabbed in the neck.

The high-profile nature of the crime, involving a foreign national, prompted Tagaytay’s mayor to issue a stern one-week ultimatum to the city’s police chief: solve the case or be fired. Just five days later, police presented a suspect who had voluntarily surrendered: Ronel Estepona Parido, a former pool cleaner at the very same hotel.

Police laid out their theory: Parido, a known gambling addict who had been fired from the hotel for stealing, orchestrated the crime as an act of robbery and revenge. They claimed he entered the room while the victims were sleeping and, when his robbery attempt was presumably met with resistance, he killed all three.

However, the swift arrest and the official narrative have been met with public skepticism, fueled by glaring inconsistencies in the evidence. The hotel’s own security guard stated that he saw Parido inside the hotel five hours after the victims checked in and let him pass after Parido said he was going to their specific room number.

More damningly, CCTV footage appears to show Parido holding a hotel key card. This directly contradicts the police’s claim that he gained entry through a balcony window and raises a critical, unanswered question: how did a disgruntled ex-employee obtain a key card to a specific guest’s room?

These questions have led many to speculate that Parido may not have acted alone, or that he is a convenient “fall guy” to satisfy the mayor’s ultimatum. Despite the doubts, Parido has been charged with triple murder and robbery and has pleaded not guilty.

The aftermath of the tragedy has been a long and painful ordeal for the families of the victims. In Australia, David’s children, Lucinda and Britany, started a GoFundMe to repatriate their father’s body. Lucinda’s wedding was postponed, and when it finally took place, two empty chairs were left in honor of her father and Lucy.

Their grief has been compounded by frustration with the slow pace of the Philippine justice system, with a judge even denying their request to observe the trial via Zoom. They have since filed a separate lawsuit against The Lake Hotel for negligence.

In the Philippines, Lucy’s daughter, a former delivery driver, was forced to quit her job to care for her four children, and is now facing financial hardship while navigating the bureaucratic maze to claim her mother’s travel insurance. As the case slowly moves through the courts, two families, separated by thousands of miles, are left waiting for a justice that feels both distant and uncertain.