Behind the cheerful voice of a dedicated call center agent was a young woman with a heart full of dreams. Katrina Gantan, at just 22 years old, was a beacon of hope for her family. She worked tirelessly, fueled by a singular, noble goal: to earn enough to bring her mother home from overseas work and finally reunite their family. She envisioned a future where she would be the breadwinner, supporting her siblings through school and caring for the grandmother who had raised her. But hiding in the shadows of her bright aspirations was a dark and deceptive romance that would ultimately lead her to a gruesome fate in a desolate motel room, a story of love twisted into an unspeakable act of violence.

Katrina was known by her family and friends as a simple, kind, and hardworking soul. The second of three siblings, she understood the weight of responsibility at a young age. She knew the sacrifices her mother was making as an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) and was determined to repay that hardship with her own success. After studying information technology, she immediately sought employment, pouring all her energy into her job. Her life was a picture of filial devotion and quiet ambition, making what happened next all the more tragic and incomprehensible.

At her workplace, she met Adones Reyz. He was 30, a colleague who soon became a confidant. Their professional relationship blossomed into a personal one, and before long, they were entangled in a secret love affair. Katrina even brought him to her family home, though she cautiously introduced him only as a coworker, perhaps sensing on some level that something was amiss. Her intuition was tragically correct. Adones was a man living a double life—a husband and a father, with a family who knew nothing of his relationship with Katrina.

The truth, as it often does, eventually came to light. When Katrina discovered his deception, her world was shattered. The man she had given her heart to was a fraud. With resolve, she decided to end the relationship, unwilling to be the “other woman” or a footnote in someone else’s life. But Adones would not let her go. He refused to accept her decision, his affection curdling into a dangerous obsession.

On the fateful night of October 1, 2010, Adones lured Katrina to a motel in Pampanga under the pretense of having one last, serious conversation. A tricycle dropped them off, and they checked into a room, disappearing behind a closed door. What was supposed to be a discussion about their future turned into a final, horrific confrontation. Around 8:30 p.m., just a short while after they arrived, Adones emerged from the room alone. He calmly told the motel staff that his companion was intoxicated and had fallen asleep. He then hailed another tricycle and vanished into the night, leaving behind a scene of unimaginable carnage.

The next day, with their allotted time expired, a motel roomboy was sent to check on the room. He knocked, but there was no answer. Forcing the door open, he was confronted with a sight that would haunt him forever. Sprawled in the bathroom was Katrina’s lifeless, naked body. But the scene was far more gruesome than a simple murder. In a cold, calculated effort to prevent identification, her killer had committed a horrifying act of dismemberment: the upper part of her body was gone.

The Pampanga police were immediately called to the scene, but the initial investigation was fraught with challenges. With no identification and the victim’s body cruelly mutilated, they were at a dead end. They released information to the media, hoping a family member would recognize a piece of jewelry, a tattoo, or any distinguishing mark. Two days later, a heartbroken man walked into the police station. It was Katrina’s uncle. He had seen the news and feared the worst. Staring at the evidence, he found his confirmation in the smallest of details—the specific shade of nail polish on her toes and the familiar shape of her feet. His niece, the bright, promising girl with a future full of dreams, was gone.

Grief quickly turned into a burning desire for justice. Working with eyewitnesses from the motel, investigators painstakingly created a composite sketch of the man last seen with Katrina. When her uncle laid eyes on the drawing, a wave of shock and horror washed over him. He recognized the face instantly. It was Adones Reyz. The revelation was made even more sickening by the fact that Adones had been putting on a convincing performance for the grieving family. He had joined their search parties, offered words of comfort, and pretended to share in their desperation, all while harboring his monstrous secret.

With the suspect identified, police orchestrated an entrapment operation. A motel employee who had seen Adones that night positively identified him, and the trap was sprung. Initially, Adones denied everything, feigning disbelief and questioning why he would be a suspect when he had “helped” the family search for Katrina. His façade, however, quickly crumbled under the weight of the evidence. The motive became clear: he murdered Katrina because she was going to leave him over his lies.

The investigation wasn’t over. A crucial piece of the puzzle was still missing. Police theorized that Adones had disposed of the rest of Katrina’s remains somewhere along his escape route. They scoured every grassy roadside and dark alley he could have passed. A week after the murder, on October 9, their search came to a grim end. Under a bridge in Mabalacat, Pampanga, they found what they were looking for. Katrina’s body could finally be whole again, but her family’s world remained irrevocably broken.

Though Adones Reyz was arrested and charged, the wheels of justice turn slowly. His case remains a painful, ongoing battle for Katrina’s loved ones. Under Philippine law, he faces a sentence of life imprisonment for his heinous crime. The story of Katrina Gantan serves as a chilling cautionary tale about the darkness that can lurk behind a charming smile and the devastating consequences of love built on a foundation of lies. It is a story of a daughter’s dream extinguished by a lover’s betrayal, and a family’s unending quest for the justice she so brutally deserves.