Body of the 13 year-old student found under the suspect’s bed

Crime: The assistant principal of Yebilaptsa Middle Secondary School (YMSS) was detained as the prime suspect in the murder of a class seven student after her body was recovered from his house on October 16.

The girl, 13, who went missing from the class on the morning of October 16 was found dead under the assistant principal’s bed.

The suspect was found sleeping on the bed with the deceased under when the search team entered the house located outside the school campus around 200 meters away.

Health official from Yebilaptsa general hospital (YGH) who conducted the postmortem and forensic investigations said the deceased was possibly strangled to death.

“The victim had marks of strangulation on her neck,” a health official from YGH said, adding the victim was probably killed in the morning. Medical examination ruled out rape. “No signs and presence of any sexual intercourse was found during the medical examination of the victim’s genital areas,” the health official said.

The possibility of suicide has also been ruled out.

While it is unknown how the deceased, who was seen in the school’s morning Socially Useful Productive Work (SUPW) went to the suspect’s place that day, YMSS principal, Dorji, said that the victim was related to the detainee. Even the suspect was seen at the SUPW the principal said.

The girl was noticed missing after the fifth period when one of the subject teachers reported to the principal. “I immediately called some friends of the deceased to take down the contacts of her parents,” Dorji said. She hadn’t gone home.

The school then launched a search on its own. “Despite searching everywhere in the school, the deceased couldn’t be found so the police was informed and lodged a formal missing complaint by 4pm,” Dorji said.

Around 5:30pm, the deceased’s father with some villagers had come to Yebilaptsa to reinforce the search efforts. The deceased’s father suggested that the team also visit the suspect’s house.

They found the suspect sleeping on a bed with the deceased lying face down and a towel around her neck under the bed.

How the girl got to the suspect’s place is unclear. “But from the account of the deceased’s friends, the victim is believed to have gone to drop keys to the detainee’s house,” Dorji said.

Royal Bhutan police spokesperson, Deputy Chief of Police Dorji Wangchuk said the case is registered and the police are investigating.

“I cannot comment whether the suspect has confessed or not at the moment. The police have to wait for forensic results,” the spokesperson said.

The findings would be known only after the arrival of the forensic investigation.

“The results of whatever physical and forensic evidences collected from the crime scene will take some time to be corroborated with the detainee’s statements to establish the truth,” the spokesperson said.

Tempa Wangdi, Bumthang