An eight-year-old girl was found dead with her arms tied and mouth gagged with a piece of cloth in a secluded spot in Barangay Gulang-gulang in Lucena City on Wednesday morning.
Based on the initial investigation released Thursday, police said the victim was found naked, with her body covered with bruises.
According to the police, the father of the victim said he sent the girl to buy coffee in a nearby store in Barangay Gulang-Gulang on Tuesday night, May 30, but she did not return home.
They are residents of Barangay Kalilayan Ibaba in Unisan, Quezon, and only came to Lucena City to attend a fiesta.
The father said he searched for her daughter in the vicinity of the barangay, asking residents by showing a piece of paper with the victim's photo, name, and address.
At about 11:10 AM, a certain, Julius Rodas, a resident in the city, reported to the barangay officials that he saw a dead naked body of a girl lying in the grassy portion of the village.
However, upon backtracking all footage from closed-circuit cameras in the vicinity, the investigators found out from the footage that the victim was with Rodas before she was raped and killed.
Rodas, a known rugby user, reportedly admitted to the crime. Authorities said the suspect gave P100 to the girl to go with him to the spot where he raped and strangled her to death.
The suspect is currently detained and is facing criminal charges.
