Investigation Bureau arrests suspect behind gruesome killing of teenager Christine Silawan

Authorities inspect Christine Silawan’s cadaver in Lapu-Lapu City. Photo: ABS-CBN News
Authorities inspect Christine Silawan’s cadaver in Lapu-Lapu City. Photo: ABS-CBN News

The Philippines’ National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) today announced that they arrested a suspect linked to teenager Christine Silawan’s killing.

NBI Director Regional Director Tomas Enrile told ABS-CBN that the unidentified suspect was arrested on Saturday evening. However, he did not say where the suspect was arrested.

The suspect, aged 17, was allegedly found in a CCTV footage with Silawan, reported Cebu Daily News. He was allegedly Silawan’s ex-boyfriend and confessed that he killed the teenager due to jealousy.

He allegedly conspired with other people in killing Silawan and the police are now searching for his accomplices. A witness allegedly said that there were three people responsible for the crime, SunStar Cebu reported.

Prior to the minor’s arrest, the police arrested a man named Jonas Bueno on Friday. Bueno was initially tagged by the media as a suspect behind Silawan’s case but the authorities in Davao City told SunStar Cebu that Bueno was actually arrested in connection with the death of a farmer in Danao City, Cebu.

Silawan was a Grade 9 student whose half-naked cadaver was found in Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu on March 11. Her face was skinned to the bone, and some of her internal organs were also missing. According to an autopsy, there were no signs that she was raped.

The crime led the city government of Lapu-Lapu to offer PHP1 million  (US$18,968) to anyone who could provide information that would lead to the arrest of Silawan’s killers. Aside from the government, the Advisory Council of Police Regional Office in Central Visayas is offering a reward of PHP100,000 (US$1,896) while a foreign national based in Leyte is offering PHP500,000 (US$9,483).

Her gruesome murder has led some people to call for the revival of the death penalty.



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