A female clerk working in the guidance counselor’s office of the University of the East in Manila was found dead and naked inside her rented room in the Sampaloc district Monday afternoon, her mouth stuffed with a rug and a black belt tied around her neck.
PO3 Lester Evangelista of the Manila Police District homicide section identified the victim as 42-year-old Rowena Calo, a native of Laguna province.
Her body was discovered by her cousin at the room she was renting in an apartment on Negros Street.
The MPD has started looking for a male neighbor of the victim after he suddenly abandoned his rented unit for reasons still unclear.
Police said the victim was apparently raped before she was strangled with the belt. Investigators took the bed sheet to check for semen.
Calo was last seen alive by her sister Monday morning in the apartment. When she was informed by Calo’s office mate that the victim did not report for work, she asked their aunt and cousin to check the house.
Together with the landlady, they forcibly opened the door of the apartment as it was padlocked when they arrived.
The victim’s sister said Calo’s four cell phones and some P15,000 in cash had also gone missing.