LEGAZPI CITY, Albay – Police said they have arrested the suspect in the rape and murder of an 18-year-old Ateneo de Naga University senior high school student in Camarines Sur.
Lt. Col. Malu Calubaquib, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office (PRO)-5, said that the Camarines Sur Provincial Police Office (CSPPO) is preparing a robbery and rape with homicide case against the suspect, pedicab driver Reymark Belleza.
Calubaquib said they arrested Belleza after he admitted killing the victim, Irish Mae Payonga, during questioning on Tuesday, Nov. 1, in the presence of a legal counsel from Public Attorney's Office (PAO).
"The team was able to secure CCTV footages which paved the way for the identification of the suspect. After the painstaking efforts, the task force located the pedicab which the victim rode and its driver was identified as Reymark Belleza," Calubaquib said. "Justice was served fast on the cruel and heartless killing of the victim," Calubaquib added.
Payonga, a resident of Barangay Marupit, Camaligan town, Camarines Sur and a senior high school student of the Ateneo de Naga University in Naga City, Camarines Sur, was reported missing on Oct. 28 while on her way to attend an event at the Church of God World Missions-Southern Luzon Region at the Capitol Convention Center in Barangay Cadlan, Pili town, Camarines Sur.
The victim boarded a passenger bus from the Central Bus Station in Naga City to Pili and rode a pedicab.
At 5:44 p.m. on Oct. 28, the victim was still able to call her mother informing her that she will go home by 8 p.m. and will be fetched by her uncle but they lost contact with her later.
Two minors found the decomposing body of a woman three days later on Oct. 31 stuffed in a sack covered with soil in a secluded area on Jacob St., Central Park Subdivision, Zone 3, Barangay Cadlan, Pili at around 3 p.m.
Payonga’s family positively identified the body as that of Irish Mae’s.
Police formed a special task force which conducted a comprehensive investigation until the suspect was identified and arrested.
Recovered from the crime scene were one denim jacket, one pair of shoes, a wrist watch, necklace with pendant, red sling bag with hair clip, and two used condoms.
Calubaquib said that the suspect took the cellphone of the victim and had it formatted in a computer shop which was located with the help of surveillance cameras.