Eduardo Caballero, a widower who is in his 50s, was found dead by his daughter inside the comfort room at dawn yesterday with his mouth frothing.
SPO4 Vicente Suerte, desk officer of the Badian Police Station, told The Freeman that they believed that the suspect committed suicide after he was bothered by his conscience over the crime. "Nakonsensya na tingale ni siya sa ihang nabuhat mao tong naghikog na lang ni siya, niinom og Endrin."
Caballero's body reportedly bore several scratches from fingernails, prompting authorities to believe that the girl fought back when the suspect raped her.
Insp. Rodrigo Orbigozo, the town police chief, recovered a five-inch knife from Caballero's house about 200 meters away from the house of his daughter, near the area where the girl was found dead, Suerte said. Suerte added that although the knife was already cleaned, bloodstains were spotted in its handle.
Caballero was tagged in the rape and killing of the girl after he was seen walking on the way to the crime scene before the girl's body was discovered Saturday morning.
The girl failed to return after leaving their house Friday morning to attend her classes at Sohoton Elementary School in the nearby barangay, prompting her parents to seek assistance from barangay tanods.
But at around past 9 a.m. Saturday, she was found dead in a deserted area in barangay Tiguib with several stab wounds in her abdomen, legs and neck. Her underwear was found beside her schoolbag near her head.
Samson Dela Peña, the Alegria municipal health officer, confirmed that Jennifer had been raped, citing lacerations in her genitals.
Orbigozo, who conducted a background check on Caballero, found out that the suspect has an attempted rape case before.
After the rape and killing of the girl, Tiguib barangay officials and tanods interrogated the suspect, who denied the accusation and said that during the incident, he was in Cebu City for medical treatment because he was sick.
But Orbigozo did not buy Caballero's claim.
At dawn yesterday, Caballero reportedly told his daughter Gema that he will go to the comfort room to urinate. But Gema found him later lying inside the comfort room with his mouth frothing.
Police found out that the girl, who was buried yesterday, had told her mother last December that someone would always whistle whenever she was on her way to school. -Norvie S. Misa/LPM