(UPDATE 4 – 4:04 p.m.) GAPAN CITY, Philippines – Reynaldo de Guzman, the 14-year-old boy last seen with 19-year-old former University of the Philippines student Carl Angelo Arnaiz, was found dead by his father at a funeral parlor in Gapan City, Nueva Ecija.
Authorities were at first stumped as to the identity of the boy, estimated to be between 12 and 14 years old, whose body was found Tuesday morning in Kabayo Creek, Purok Gitna in Barangay San Roque in this city in Nueva Ecija.
His entire face was covered with masking tape when residents first noticed his body floating in the creek.
There was no identification on him, except for the word “Batman” on his red orange shorts.
His body bore stab wounds – at least 30 in all, according to initial examination done on the body.
READ RELATED STORY: 30 STAB WOUNDS, HEAD WRAPPED IN PLASTIC, FEET TIED | 14-year-old Reynaldo could no longer talk but his body tells a gory story
Radio reports said earlier the child’s father, Ed de Guzman, was able to positively identify De Guzman through a mark on his leg and a wart on his knee.
His parents reportedly were able to find out where he was based on a tip from a social media friend, who had a picture of a child believed to be De Guzman.
De Guzman, a Grade 5 pupil at the Maybunga Elementary School in Pasig City, was eating in their house in Brgy. San Andres, Cainta, Rizal around 10 p.m. of August 16 when he suddenly disappeared after running and saying that he would get his clothes and slippers, according to his mother Lina Gabriel.
Gabriel said she was told by the friends of her son that they saw De Guzman go out with Arnaiz around 1 a.m. of August 17 to buy food.
Arnaiz also died in an alleged August 18 shootout with Caloocan police after he supposedly robbed at gunpoint 54-year-old taxi driver Tomas Bagcal. His remains were found by his parents on August 28 at a morgue in the city.
Arnaiz and De Guzman’s deaths happened after the killing of another teenager, Grade 11 student Kian Loyd delos Santos, during a police anti-drug operation in Caloocan City last August 16.
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