Police nab suspect in rape-killing of 14-year-old girl

CAMP DIEGO SILANG, La Union, Philippines  – Barely a day after the crime, alert policemen arrested yesterday the suspect in the brutal rape-slay of a 14-year-old girl in Pagbennecan, Balaoan, La Union.

La Union police director Senior Superintendent Ramon Purugganan told The STAR that the suspect, identified as Kerwin Abalahin, 21, is now in the custody of Balaoan policemen under Senior Inspector Benjamin Diagan.

“The suspect was identified by several witnesses who allegedly spotted him inside the victim’s room and half naked. He was close to the victim’s family because he worked as their house helper,” Purugganan said.

Purugganan said a murder charge was already filed against Abalahin, allegedly a native of Quezon province, while the rape case was still pending because investigators are waiting for the autopsy and laboratory result. 

He said the victim’s parents couldn’t imagine that the suspect had killed their daughter Darren Asuncion, a second year student at a private high school, because they have been very good to the suspect.

“The suspect did not escape after the crime and still stayed at the victim’s house. He pretends to be innocent of the crime when policemen interrogated him. But witnesses have pinpointed him as the perpetrator of the crime,” Purugganan said.     

The swift arrest of the suspect came after Chief Superintendent Franklin Bucayu, Region 1 police director, ordered Purugganan and the Balaoan police to exert all efforts and give immediate special attention to the girl’s case.

“We consider the case solved because the suspect was already arrested and charges have been filed,” Bucayu said.

The body of the victim was found Wednesday buried naked beside a creek near their house in Pagbennecan with several stab wounds on the different parts of her body. 

The girl’s body was found by a neighbor three days after she was reported missing Sunday when she attended Mass at the Catholic Church in the town proper. 

On Wednesday, Phillip Ledda, a neighbor, allegedly smelled foul odor while he was near the creek until he suddenly saw one of the legs of the girl exposed outside from a waste pit where he was buried.