NBI probing slay of girl in Lapu-Lapu City

CEBU CITY — The National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) has stepped in to probe the death of a 16-year-old high school student whose body was found on a vacant lot in Barangay Bangkal, Lapu-Lapu City last Monday, March 11.

Agents of the NBI-7 visited the house of the victim who was identified as Christine Lee Silawan on Monday afternoon.

NBI-7 Director Tomas Enrile said they immediately conducted an investigation without any formal request from Silawan’s family due to the gravity of the crime.

“We want to solve this case immediately so that justice will be served,” he said in an interview.

The Lapu-Lapu City Police Office, on the other hand, were conducting a hot pursuit operation on the three men seen with the girl before she was killed on Sunday night.

Chief Inspector Limuel Obon, Lapu-Lapu City Police Office director, however, did not divulge the identity of the suspects so as not to preempt their operations.

Supt. Benjamin Lara, head of the Police Crime Laboratory in Central Visayas, said the victim died of multiple stab wounds on the body.

But they could not say whether or not the perpetrators used acid to destroy the face of the victim.

More than half of the face of the girl was removed, exposing her skull.

Police investigators said the perpetrators might have skinned the girl. But they later said acid may have been poured into the girl’s face.

“It’s hard to tell for now what ruined her face. There are many possibilities that we need to look into,” Lara said.

Investigators also had yet to determine whether or not the victim was raped since autopsy had not been completed. The girl was naked from the waist down when found.