Slain girl’s body reveals poison

AN 18-year-old woman who was found dead in the outskirts of Barangay Guadalupe, Carcar City on Christmas Day may have been poisoned aside from being raped and strangled.

Erlinda Trinidad, 52, told SunStar Cebu on Thursday, Dec. 27, that traces of pesticide were found in the gut of her daughter, Ruby, when her body underwent autopsy.

Ruby, 18, a Grade 11 student of the Teotimo Abellana Sr. Memorial High School in Barili town, was found dead and without underwear in Sitio Sangi, Barangay Guadalupe on Christmas Day.

Ruby was believed to have been raped before she was killed.

Trinidad said she last saw her daughter on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, Dec. 24.

Ruby reportedly left the house in a foul mood after Trinidad scolded her for coming home late.

Ruby reportedly came home late as she was spending her day with a classmate in Barili to conduct research for their school work.

Trinidad said she couldn’t forget her daughter’s smile when she received a P50 gift from her aunt last Saturday, Dec. 22.

Ruby was a beneficiary of the national government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

“I still feel pain whenever I think of how my daughter was murdered. I still can’t dare to look at her dead body inside the coffin when it arrived at our house. Those who saw her body said that there were burns on her face as though she was tortured before she was killed. I would like to ask our President (Rodrigo Duterte) to help reclaim justice for our daughter,” Trinidad said in Cebuano.

Barili Town Councilor Julito “Julie” Flores has committed to provide a P30,000 cash reward for anyone who can provide information on the whereabouts of the suspects behind Ruby’s death.

Ruby is set to be buried on Jan. 2 in a public cemetery in Barili.

Flores said the reward money aims to assist the police in solving the case immediately and locating those responsible for Ruby’s death.

Police investigators from Barili and Carcar City are currently helping each other in solving the crime.

Investigators believe the insecticide found in Ruby’s gut could help in locating the culprit. From SCG of Superbalita Cebu / JKV