Tabuelan killing

HE will turn 34 years old today.

But Elmar Montecalbo will have to celebrate his birthday inside the jail.

Montecalbo was arrested by police for purportedly killing a 13-year-old girl whose body was found last week in a dry well in Tabuelan town, Cebu.

He was presented before Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Marlon Atillo for an inquest proceeding at the Palace of Justice in Cebu City yesterday afternoon.

Montecalbo, a farmer, decided to undergo preliminary investigation which would allow him to answer the allegations against him.

He was given seven days to submit his counter-affidavit.

Police filed charges of frustrated rape with homicide against him before the Cebu Provincial Prosecutors’ Office.

In an interview, Montecalbo denied the allegations against him.

“Pinangga ko tong bataa uy (I really care for that girl),” he said.

He said he was inside his residence when the incident happened.

“Hibong ko nga akoy gidakop. (I was surprised I was arrested),” he said.

The victim’s brother said Montecalbo tried to help them locate the body of the girl.

But the brother said that Montecalbo allegedly tried to convince those searching for the girl not to look into the well where the victim’s body was later found.

The victim’s brother said that he believed that the suspect tried to rape the girl.

However, there’s no proof that the girl was raped.

The girl went to school last Thursday and didn’t return home. Her body was found on Saturday inside a well.

The victim’s brother said he believed that the suspect took the girl as she was on her way home from school.

Police said they have at least five witnesses against the suspect. None of the witnesses, however, actually saw the suspect commit the crime./Reporter Ador Vincent S. Mayol