CEBU CITY – A 29-year-old farmer was arrested as a suspect in the gruesome killing of a 17-year-old girl in a mountainous barangay in Toledo City.
Police identified the suspect as Jonathan dela Cerna Sugabo, a neighbor of Sharmaine Flores, who was found dead in a grassy area in Barangay Bunga past 6 a.m. on Friday, August 25.
The victim was believed to have been raped before she was killed as she was found naked from the waist down.
Police Lt. Col. Manolo Salvatierra, chief of the Toledo City Police Station, said Sugabo was implicated in the killing after a witness saw him near the area where the girl was found dead.
Salvatierra said further investigation will be made as police are not discounting the possibility that there was another person involved in the crime.
He added that there were no security cameras in the area and investigators are only relying on the accounts of possible witnesses.
Swab samples have already been taken from the family of the victim and that of the suspect.
The Toledo police are still awaiting the result of the DNA (dioxyribonucleic acid) test and the autopsy report.
Interviewed by radio station dyHP, Sugabo denied involvement in the crime.
He said he was spotted near the crime scene because it was his usual route going home.
Sugao also admitted that he has scratches on his knees and arms but said these are old wounds that he obtained from tilling his farm.
The suspect admitted using illegal drugs last Wednesday to enable him to have energy in the farm.
The suspect also denied he was attracted to the victim.
The victim’s mother, Anna Maria Flores, was convinced that Sugabo was her daughter’s killer based on the accounts of some witnesses.
A “habal-habal” driver also surfaced and confirmed transporting Sugabo twice on Thursday night.
The habal-habal driver said he noticed that Sugabo was acting strange that night and had bloodstains in his hands.
The victim’s brother, Joshua, also disclosed that there was a time when Sugabo sent a message to his sister.
Joshua said he didn’t check what Sugabo's message was all about but her sister was taken aback by it.
The Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) welcomed Sugabo’s arrest.
Police Col. Noel Flores, officer-in-charge of CPPO, also commended the Toledo police for quickly solving the case.
“We assure the parents of the 17-year-old girl and the Toledohanons that justice will be served,” said Flores.