4-year-old body found

MEMBERS of the Matanao Municipal Police Station are still investigating the death of the four-year-old boy whose body was found at the side of a river in Barangay Cabasagan, Matanao town in Davao del Sur province on July 24, Tuesday.

The victim was identified as Mark Dave Malayang, four, a resident from Sitio Botilon, Cabasagan of the municipality. His body was found at around 3:30 p.m. by a farmer named Carlos Pineda Fuentes, 50, a resident of the same barangay.

Report obtained from the Police Regional Office (PRO 11) revealed that Fuentes was on his way to fetch his carabao when he noticed a naked child just lying at the side of the river at Sitio Botilon. He then checked the child.

Unfortunately, Fuentes discovered the child lifeless. He then sought assistance to the barangay official in the area. It was then the child was identified.

Further investigation revealed that Malayang went to the river alone, about one kilometer from his house, at around 12:30 p.m. to swim and catch frogs for their food. However, he did not return home.

The victim succumbed to head injury on his forehead and a cut wound on his private part, based on the investigation of the Scene of the Crime Operatives (Soco).

Matanao police are conducting thorough investigation and intelligence gathering to establish the motive of the suspect/s in killing the victim.

The cadaver of the victim already lies at Brillantes Funeral Homes in Bansalan town waiting for post mortem test.