ILOILO CITY, Iloilo -- The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption supports the family of the young girl who was brutally murdered and possibly raped in Antique province recently and will help it in the struggle to find justice.

VACC chair Dante Jimenez said he will visit the family of Kirsten Mejica next week to show support and prod law enforcement agencies to resolve the case.

"We will provide the family moral and legal support," Jimenez told the Inquirer in a telephone interview on Saturday.

Mejica, 16 (not 15 as previously reported), died at a local hospital hours after she was found half-naked with her head bludgeoned on the night of January 31 on grassy lot in the village of Funda-Dalipe in the capital town of San Jose.

Her 16-year-old male companion was also hit on the head, lost consciousness, but survived and sought assistance.

Police detained an out-of-school youth, a 16-year-old laborer, on February 4 after he supposedly confessed to hitting Kirsten's male companion because of a long-time grudge.

The suspect said in his confession that he killed Kirsten to eliminate any witness to the crime. He denied he raped her, however.

Investigators have said that while there was suspected seminal fluid on the victim, there was no available evidence to show that she was raped.

"It was observed that the crime scene did not show any sign of struggle where the victim was found half-naked, wearing only her t-shirt. Her head was supported by her slippers while her underwear and jogging pants were still attached to her right leg," said Chief Superintendent Isagani Cuevas, Western Visayas police director, in a report dated February 19 to the director for Investigation and Detective Management of the Philippine National Police.

But Kirsten's eldest brother, Ramy Rex, said they continue to believe that her sister was killed and raped by two or more persons.

"We are waiting for the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) autopsy report to shed light on what really happened and we call on the police to speed up their investigation," said Ramy Rex in a telephone interview on Saturday.

Jimenez said he was going to Antique to find out what really happened because he has been getting "mixed information" about the case.

E-mailed messages from a person who identifies himself as "Restituto Tapacal" have been sent to newspaper editors and columnists, television, and radio stations in Manila, citing radio reports of alleged gory details of the incident.

"Tapacal," who wrote that he is a resident of Nasuli-C village in Anini-y town in Antique, claimed in his e-mail that the victim was brought to an area adjacent to the provincial police headquarters and was found the next day.

He also claimed that the victim's face bore lacerations and her sexual organ was slashed and stuffed with sand, plastic, and pieces of wood. The victim's father suffered a stroke and died, according to Tapacal.

But these claims have been denied by both Kirsten's family and the police.

Kirsten father, Ramon Mejica Sr., 57, a retired fireman, along with his wife Resurreccion, 49, and other family members, spoke to Inquirer at his home in San Jose on February 18 and lamented the exaggerated reports surrounding the death of his daughter.

On Friday, a 52-year-old man named Restituto T. Tapacal, a barangay (village) councilor in Casay village in Anini-y executed an affidavit denying sending or having any knowledge of the e-mail. Anini-y is 35 km south of San Jose.

In his one-page affidavit, Tapacal said he executed the statement voluntarily because he was questioned by the town police on the e-mails. He said he does not know how to use a computer and has no knowledge of the incident.

The Inquirer obtained a copy of Tapacal's affidavit from Chief Superintendent Isagani Cuevas, Western Visayas police director, who on Friday said their initial investigation showed that there was no sign that Kirsten was raped.

Reached by e-mail by the Inquirer, the person sending the e-mails under Tapacal's name said the statements he/she circulated were quoted from initial reports from a local radio station.

"The only inconsistencies there was (sic) that the father did not die as reported earlier (thank God!), and that the boyfriend did not immediately make it home but was rushed to the hospital unconscious but recovered after (three) days at the hospital. Other details mentioned were fairly accurate," the person said.

But he/she has not replied to Inquirer's queries about his real identity and declined the request to meet in person.

Jimenez said that while the e-mail sender could have good intentions in calling the attention of the media and government agencies to the case, the person should not exaggerate details of the incident.

"It's unfair to the family," he said.