Body found in Nueva Ecija not 14-yr-old Reynaldo De Guzman — PNP

The PNP said that the body found floating in a Nueva Ecija creek was not of 14-year-old Reynaldo de Guzman.—ARMAND GALANG

The body found floating in a creek at a village in Gapan City, Nueva Ecija was not of 14-year-old Reynaldo de Guzman, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said Monday.

In a press conference, PNP Deputy Director Gen. Fernando Mendez said the body found in the creek “cannot be the biological offspring” of De Guzman’s parents, Eduardo Gabriel and Lina de Guzman, because DNA samples did not match.

“Hindi siya si Reynaldo de Guzman. Hindi siya (katawan) yung anak ng mag-asawa,” Mendez said.

The body was found on September 5 at Kinamatayang Kabayo Creek in San Roque village in Gapan City, Nueva Ecija. The family had identified it as their son because of the wart on his left knee and the scar on his neck.

The body bore 30 stab wounds and the head was wrapped in plastic and packing tape. The autopsy of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) indicated that the boy was killed within 24 hours before it was thrown into the creek.

Mendez said the PNP Crime Laboratory’s DNA Analysis Branch obtained blood and buccal (inside mouth) samples from the body and matched it with the parents’ buccal samples.

The police has yet to identify the body, Mendez said, as there is no reported missing person in Nueva Ecija that may match the cadaver.

“We’ll have to ask around if there are reports that a boy his age is missing in other places,” he said.

Mendez raised the possibility of the parents mistakenly identifying their son because the “physical descriptions have changed.”

“And since it was already bloated, probably the physical descriptions were already changed. That’s why they thought it’s the body of Reynaldo,” he said.

The PNP will continue looking for De Guzman, who is now considered missing anew, Mendez said.

“As of now we have no lead yet regarding the whereabouts of Reynaldo de Guzman, who was reported missing,” he added.

De Guzman disappeared on Aug. 18 together with slain teen Carl Angelo Arnaiz after they went out to have midnight snacks in their neighborhood in Cainta, Rizal.

Arnaiz was found dead 10 days later in a morgue in Caloocan City, reportedly killed in a shootout with the police after mugging a taxi driver. je