After an intense two-day search, a Filipino college student living in Ireland was found dead by police yesterday.
The body of Jastine Valdez, a 24-year-old accounting student, was found near a golf course about 50 meters off the road in Rathmichael, a suburb in County Dublin.
Valdez had been living in the country with her Irish citizen parents for three years.
Danilo and Tess Valdez, Jastine’s parents, reported her missing on Saturday night after she failed to come home from working in the nearby coastal town of Bray, County Wicklow.
The search included a police helicopter, six army trucks, and members of the Defense Forces and Civil Defense, Irish broadcaster RTE reported.
Valdez was last seen leaving their house on Saturday afternoon.
However, an eye-witness reportedly saw a woman that matched the victim’s description being pulled inside a black SUV at about 6:15pm in an area near Valdez’s home in Enniskerry, a 12-minute drive from where her body was found.
Even before discovering Valdez’s body, authorities had already found the kidnapper, 40-year-old Mark Hennessy, after someone reported seeing his car drive into a business park in south Dublin.
Hennessy was shot and killed by police at about 8pm on Sunday after he pulled a knife on them.
After tracing Hennessy’s car, police found that he had brought Valdez to his home, ABS-CBN News reported.
Hennessy was a father of two and had no criminal record prior to the incident.
Authorities are still investigating Hennessy’s motive but it was reported that Valdez had no connections to her kidnapper.
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