Florentina Lalata, left, with Mohd Abdullah and their daughter Sarah Jeet Lalata-Buco.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Sarah Jeet Lalata-Buco
March 27, 2022 - 2:29 PM
The family of a TRU lecturer says the lawyer charged in connection to the tampering of his body was his trusted friend and confidant.
Thompson Rivers University lecturer Mohd Abdullah's body was found on March 17, and police say his death is being treated as a murder investigation. Kamloops lawyer Rogelio Butch Bagabuyo was charged March 18 for interference with a dead body for the alleged storage of Abdullah's body in a plastic bin.
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Sarah Jeet Lalata-Buco is Abdullah's daughter who lives in the Philippines. She and her husband Jhuls Laurence Buco said they only recently developed a relationship with Abdullah in 2017 after Lalata-Buco was separated from him for 20 years.
“The last time that we saw him personally was between 2017 to 2018 before the pandemic because he usually goes to the Philippines for conferences and he visits us,” she said.
With travel restrictions due the pandemic, they were communicating on and off via email, so the couple was surprised to learn of his death today, March 27.
READ MORE: Kamloops RCMP confirm murder victim was missing TRU lecturer
Abdullah would tell them stories that Bagabuyo was a good friend and trusted lawyer, Buco said, adding Abdullah even sought Bagabuyo’s advice to help Lalata-Buco immigrate to Canada.
“He knows everything, his assets, even his properties,” Buco said. “He tells good stories about him. He’s Filipino like us and he’s trusted.”
He would always seek Bagabuyo’s legal advice, he said.
Lalata-Buco said Abdullah was a quiet, kind man who gave good advice. The couple joked he was a “workaholic.”
He taught yoga and they encouraged him to retire in the Philippines. Originally from Singapore, Abdullah met Lalata-Buco’s mother in that country while he was working as private tutor and she was working as a domestic helper. Lalata-Buco’s mother returned to the Philippines and decided to stay there when Abdullah went to the U.S. and then Canada, receiving his Canadian citizenship, they said.
“He was always sending letters… but they were always bouncing back to the post office. Miraculously, in 2017 one letter came here as a surprise with his email so Sarah just reached out through that email and the connection was gained,” Buco said.
“We were trying to reach him too, on Facebook and every social media account but we couldn’t find him,” Lalata-Buco said.
— This story was corrected at 9:18 a.m. Tuesday, March 29, 2022, to clarify in which country the couple met.
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