Ex-convict nabbed for rape-slay

LAGUNA, Philippines – An ex-convict tagged in the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl here in 2014 was arrested in Los Baños City on Sunday.

Albert de Castro, 43, was collared at his brother’s house in Barangay Mayondon at around 5 p.m., city police chief Superintendent Romeo Desiderio said.

De Castro was convicted of homicide in 1993 and released from the Sablayan Penal Colony in Occidental Mindoro in 2013.

Desiderio said De Castro’s arrest was based on two warrants issued in November by Calamba Judges Gregorio Velasquez and Maria Florencia Formes-Baculo for rape with homicide and attempted rape, respectively.

The victim was found dead in a vacant lot in Barangay San Antonio on Dec. 28, 2014, two days after she was reported missing by her parents.

Desiderio said De Castro also attempted to rape a student in Barangay Mayondon on Dec. 24 of the same year.

De Castro is fourth on the list of most wanted persons in the province and allegedly one of the remaining members of the De Leon carjacking group.

The suspect hid in Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Davao and Mindoro to elude arrest.