Police on Friday said that the body of a young boy found in a calamansi farm in Barangay Maluid, Victoria, Tarlac on Thursday, Jan. 29, is that of John Ysmael, son of slain Police Senior Master Sgt. Dianne Marie Mollenido.
The body was discovered at around 2:50 p.m. by a resident while harvesting in the farm owned by Barangay Captain Sandy Torres. Authorities were alerted at about 4 p.m.
Police said the boy’s body was wrapped with plastic tape and found lying on a grassy area.
THE body of John Ysmael – son of Police Senior Master Sgt. Dianne Marie Mollenido – was found in a calamansi farm in Victoria, Tarlac. (Victoria PNP via Liezle Inigo)
The body was initially unidentified but later confirmed by his father at around 12:30 a.m. at the morgue.
Initial findings indicate the victim was a minor and showed signs consistent with suffocation.
The body was brought to a funeral parlor and transferred to the morgue for medico-legal examination.
MOLLENIDO and son John Ysmael. (FB)
Police Major Marty A. Calara, chief of the Victoria Municipal Police Station, said the area was cordoned off and forensics probers have processed the scene.
Authorities are coordinating counterparts to determine possible links to the death of the boy’s mother.