Investigators at the city police station assured to explore all possible angles in the rape and murder of Rodalyn Gamba, a 20-year-old student of the University of Bohol taking up Bachelor of Science in Hotel and Restaurant Management.
The victim’s body was found early morning last Saturday, dumped in a bushy area of a vacant lot several meters from the roadside along B. Inting St. Extension, this city.
Investigators coordinated with the cyber-crime section of the Police Regional Office (PRO)-7 in Cebu to trace the text messages transmitted to the cellphone number of the victim.
The police got the cellphone number of the victim from her friends and relatives which could give some leads.
Acting city chief of police George Vale, for the meantime, advised city residents to be careful in trusting persons they barely knew.
Among the feedback reaching the DYRD Textklamo center, on the other hand, is the public clamor to the city government, provincial government and concerned national agencies to install streetlights along certain roads that still have no streetlight until the present.
The incident coincided with reports that an ex-convict who had record of sexual assaults had just got out of jail.
However, the police investigators could not yet conclude on any theory yet, as to the possible suspect and the motive.
According to some friends, the victim was still seen exchanging text messages with somebody that day prior to the time her body was found.
The victim hailed from barangay Banderahan, Valencia, but was staying in a boarding house at Espuelas St., this city.
The City Tactical Operation Center (CTOC) of the city police station learned about the incident when a concerned citizen reported it through a telephone call at around 6:06 a.m. on Saturday.
Police Senior Inspector Jacinto Mandal Jr., chief of the crime investigation section of Tagbiilaran City Police station, immediately formed a team to respond to the report, together with the officer of the day–Police Senior Inspector Albert Quilitorio, the duty criminal investigator PO1 Jess Francis Monton, Quick Reaction Team personnel and intelligence operatives.
The police team found the victim’s body covered with pieces of trash in the secluded area.
The victim sustained a stab wound on the left side of the neck and another stab wound on the upper left portion of the forehead.
Investigation also found that the stab wounds was caused by a blunt object which could be a thin branch of a tree or a hard twig.
There were also marks on her neck that showed the assailant might have choked her.
The medico-legal examination also found she was raped.