A flight attendant was believed to have been raped after being found dead in the bathtub of a posh hotel in the Philippines.
Christine Angelica Dacera, 23, was found unconscious in an empty bathtub of her room at the City Garden Grand Hotel in Makati City in the early hours of January 1.
One of her friends, Rommel Galida, noticed her asleep around 10am, and covered her with a blanket before going back to sleep.
It was only after several hours later when they noticed that Dacera has been lying unconscious, prompting her friends to administer CPR but she failed to respond.
She was rushed to a local hospital by three of her friends and a hotel staff, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
Makati Police Chief Colonel Harold Depositar said initial reports listed Dacera’s cause of death as aneurysm, but contusions, abrasions and traces of semen were found in parts of her body.
“Based on initial investigation, sexual abuse happened,” said Philippine National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Ilderbrandi Usana.
Authorities have arrested three suspects and filed complaints of rape and homicide against them before the city prosecutor, while eight other persons are being hunted down.
The police shared that the suspects had “conflicting” stories during the course of the investigation.
Depositar pointed out that those who were in the same hotel room as her could have “done something” by reporting the incident immediately.
“Only three of them were Dacera’s friends. The others were practically strangers to her, as they were only known to her three friends,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Department of Tourism has given the hotel three days to explain why its accreditation should not be revoked following possible COVID-19 protocol violations.
“An accommodation establishment in areas declared to be under a General Community Quarantine that is concurrently being used as a quarantine facility may not provide accommodation for leisure purposes,” the agency said in a statement.