Body of missing girl found buried in mother’s yard

KIDAPAWAN CITY, North Cotabato, Philippines—Police in the town of Makilala have arrested a woman after neighbors and local officials found the decomposing body of a 17-year-old special child she had reported missing, buried in a shallow grave in her yard, police and village officials said Thursday.

Confronted with the discovery of her daughter Sunshine’s decomposing body, Jocelyn Deniyo admitted she killed her because of their poverty but later changed her story, telling investigators the girl had died of a lingering illness, police said.

PO1 Mercy Millomeda of the Women and Children Protection Desk at the Makilala police station said investigators were awaiting the results of an autopsy to determine exactly how Sunshine died.

“Let us wait for the results of the investigation of the provincial crime laboratory,” she said.

Arnold Arquino, head of the village of Bulatukan where Deniyo lives, said a complaint from neighbors about a horrible smell emanating from the woman’s yard led to the discovery of the girl’s shallow grave on Wednesday.

Arquino said Deniyo had reported the disappearance of the girl to the authorities much earlier.

After days of searching for the “missing” girl, Arquino said, the authorities and even some of Deniyo’s relatives started to lose hope of finding her. They were relieved—briefly—when Deniyo told them she had found her daughter in the custody of other relatives living outside the village.

However, the stench from Deniyo’s yard had intensified by this time. So, Arquino, other village officials and the woman’s neighbors decided to find out what was causing it.

Arquino said they found a mound of earth covered with garbage. When they dug it up, it yielded the body of Sunshine, her head wrapped in plastic, Arquino said.

Because her husband’s work required him to be away much of the time, Deniyo was often left alone at home with her daughter, Arquino said. He said the woman gave her husband the same story about Sunshine’s disappearance.