Pa questioned after finding stepdaughter dead in Ecija town

JAEN, Nueva Ecija—A 48-year-old man was questioned on Monday after he reported the death of his 11-year-old stepdaughter in Barangay (village) Lambakin here.

Florante Eder alerted the police on Sunday that he found the girl dead at 9 a.m. inside their hut. The girl, a Grade 4 pupil, was lying naked with multiple stab wounds.

Eder had been living with the girl’s mother for the last 5 years. He told police he proceeded to their farm at 5:30 a.m. and was not around when the victim returned home from a sleepover at a neighbor’s house, according to PO2 Gerald Catacutan, the lead investigator.

But police invited Eder for questioning because the neighbor, a 61-year-old woman, claimed that the girl slept at her house for fear of being sexually molested, Catacutan said.

The girl’s mother was in downtown Jaen where she works as a househelp. JE/rga