INDANG, Cavite – Police have filed cases of rape with homicide against four suspects identified as perpetrators of a gruesome crime that led to the death of a pretty 17-year-old student last week.
While authorities have publicly named one of the suspects as 31-year-old Elrick Mojica Vidallo, case investigator PO2 Brian Jay Comia said they will withhold the names of three others pending their arrests.
The four are charged for the death of Melissa Maravilla Magaracia, a student of AMA Computer School in Dasmariñas City who the suspects reportedly enticed into a possible modeling stint through Facebook.
Vidallo, a welder, was arrested by a police team in his home in Barangay Harasan, Indang, in an operation the day Magracia’s body was discovered.
When interrogated, Comia said Vidallo denied killing Magracia but confessed that she was sexually abused by one of three other suspects.
“The (sexual) abuse was established through the judicial confession of the suspect (Vidallo). We are withholding the details for the meantime and the identities of the other suspects who remained at large,” said Comia.
Magracia reportedly met with Vidallo at the Cavite State University (CavSU)-Indang vicinity which was confirmed by a classmate of the victim.
Days later the decomposing body of the victim was discovered by a farmer half-submerged at San Pascual River in Barangay Guyam Malaki last Dec. 10, four days after she was reported missing by her family.
Vidallo is currently detained at the municipal jail while the three other suspects are now being pursued by authorities after charges were filed Monday afternoon by Comia at the Office of Provincial Assistant Prosecutor Mary Catherine P. Hilario in Imus District. (Anthony Giron)