The suspect in the rape slay of an 8-year-old girl in Lucena, Quezon last week was found dead inside the detention center on Sunday.

According to Lucena police, the body of the suspect Julius Rodas, 19, was found inside the comfort room of the facility past Sunday midnight. He was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.

Authorities are still investigating the cause behind the death of Rodas, who was initially tagged as a witness after he 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.