Lucila Lalu, a timeless whodunit

The Philippines has its share of crime mysteries or whodunits whose perpetrators, like the real identity of Jack The Ripper, may never ever be known even with the magic of DNA testing.

Case in point would be the original “Chop-Chop Lady” of Manila in the persona of Lucila Lalu whose gruesome murder and decapitation in 1967 grabbed newspaper headlines for days and even weeks.

From being a probinsiyana (provincial) lass, Lalu used her beauty and entrepreneurial skills to become a noveau  (new) rich as owner of the  resto-cocktail bar Pagoda Soda Fountain on Rizal Avenue.

Lucila also put up Lucy’s House of Beauty, a beauty parlor on Mayhaligue St. in Sta. Cruz, Manila.

Despite her newfound wealth, Lucila would not have   merited even a one-liner in The Manila Times’ gossip pages, but for an ugly turn of event in the life of the 29-year-old woman.

On May 28, 1967, Lucila’s decapitated and headless body was found along EDSA, while her legs chopped into several pieces were found wrapped in newspapers not far from her restaurant. Lucila’s head has never been found to this day.

Four suspects romantically linked to Lucila were rounded up – her common-law policeman husband, a dental student, a 19-year-old “boy-toy” waiter at her lounge, and a printing press executive. However, the police was never able to pin the gruesome murder to any of them.

Four decades have gone and Lucila Lalu’s murder remains a whodunit. -END-

Image by: Manila Times