Shella Lagsa Hayahay was a woman defined by sacrifice. At just 29 years old, the mother of two from the impoverished province of Davao Occidental had spent years working as a kasambahay, or domestic helper, far from her own children, to provide them with a better life.

In January 2023, she took a new job in Davao City, moving into the two-story home of an elderly woman, Nanita Pagatpat, and her daughter, Katherine.

Shella told her family that her new employers seemed kind and that she was hopeful. But behind the closed doors of that seemingly respectable home, a toxic and abusive dynamic was festering, one that would culminate in a brutal, tragic incident and a cold-hearted attempt at a cover-up, all of which was unraveled by a neighbor’s silent, digital witness.

On June 18, 2023, Shella’s family received the news that would shatter their world. A police officer informed them that Shella was gone. Her body had been found, wrapped in a tarpaulin, discarded like trash on a roadside, just 40 meters from the house where she worked.

The autopsy would later reveal the horrifying extent of the violence she had endured: the cause of her passing was a cerebral hemorrhage resulting from multiple, severe blows to the head.

The investigation, led by the Buhangin Police Station, began with a crucial and damning piece of evidence. A faint trail of blood, washed but not entirely erased by the perpetrator, led directly from the spot where Shella’s body was dumped back to the gate of the Pagatpat residence. When police confronted the family, Katherine denied any knowledge of the crime. But the blood trail told a story they could not deny.

As police began canvassing the neighborhood for witnesses, they received their most significant breakthrough: a resident came forward with CCTV footage. The video, captured in the dead of night on June 17, was chillingly clear. It showed an elderly woman, struggling under the weight of a heavy trolley.

On the trolley was a large, tarpaulin-wrapped bundle. The woman in the footage was seen pushing the trolley down the street and leaving the bundle on the side of the road—at the exact spot where Shella’s remains were found. The woman in the video was unmistakably 70-year-old Nanita Pagatpat.

Faced with this irrefutable video evidence, Nanita’s story began to crumble. She initially tried to blame Shella’s husband, who she claimed had visited the house and gotten into a fight with his wife.

But that lie was quickly exposed; police confirmed that Shella’s husband was, and had been, in prison for an unrelated crime and could not possibly have been involved. After six days of intense interrogation, Nanita Pagatpat finally confessed.

Her confession revealed a story of escalating cruelty and abuse. Shella’s sister, Aiza, later corroborated this, sharing the heartbreaking stories her sister had told her in the weeks leading up to the incident. Nanita, from the very beginning, had treated Shella with contempt, mocking her name, belittling her for being poor and uneducated, and treating her like a slave.

Shella had endured months of verbal abuse. The cruelty turned physical. Aiza recounted how Nanita had once deliberately turned off the lights as Shella was walking down the stairs, causing her to fall. On another occasion, Nanita had poured bleach on Shella’s colored clothes as a cruel “lesson.”

The final, tragic confrontation occurred on the afternoon of June 17. Shella, exhausted after finishing her morning chores, had gone to her room to rest. Nanita, enraged at the sight of her housemaid taking a break, allegedly threw a shoe rack at the sleeping woman, calling her “lazy” and “useless.” She then ordered Shella to go outside and water the plants in the hot afternoon sun.

As Shella obediently followed the cruel command, Nanita followed her out, armed with a piece of wood. She struck the unsuspecting Shella in the head from behind. The attack was brutal and relentless. After the initial blow, she continued to strike Shella until her life was tragically taken.

The hours that followed were a cold and calculated cover-up. Nanita wrapped Shella’s body in a tarpaulin and hid it in the garden. When her daughter, Katherine, returned home, Nanita lied, saying Shella had gone to the mall with her husband.

She then sent her own daughter on a fool’s errand to “search” for Shella, giving herself time to clean the crime scene. Later that night, under the cover of darkness, she loaded her victim onto a trolley and wheeled her to the roadside.

Nanita confessed that her motive was a deep-seated resentment; she claimed Shella was “pabibo” (a know-it-all) who was too close to her daughter, Katherine.

For this petty and cruel reason, a young mother’s life was ended, and her two children were left to grow up without her. Nanita Pagatpat was charged with murder and remains in custody, her crime exposed by a trail of blood and the unblinking eye of a neighbor’s camera.