The victim, identified as Jemarie Baron, was reportedly set to join the Mutya Hong Butuan beauty pageant, one of the highlights of the city’s fiesta celebration, on May 18-19.
Baron’s body bore 10 stab wounds, and autopsy showed that she was raped, said Senior Superintendent Ramon Castillo Espiritu, city police chief.
This is the third time that a local beauty had been raped and killed. Suspected members of local youth gangs who are hooked on illegal drugs were tagged in the two previous incidents.
The naked bodies of the first two victims, both teenagers, were found in a grassy lot near the Otis Mall.
Espiritu told The STAR that four middle-aged men riding in an L-300 van reportedly invited Baron and a female companion for a "joy ride" and meals in a local hotel.
The four men, according to Espiritu, paid P4,000 for two rooms at the plush Dottie’s Place Hotel where they supposedly planned to bring the two girls after dining.
But the two girls reportedly refused to go with the four men inside the rooms.
Baron’s companion reportedly then left the group and went home, while the victim agreed to just go on a stroll with the four men.
Baron’s mother, Teresita, said she had constantly reminded her daughter to refrain from going out with her barkada and to be at home before midnight.
Espiritu said probers are still conducting a "thorough investigation" although they have some clues on who the suspects are.