A beauty queen has suffered a nightmarish death after being abducted from a grocery store in what investigators believe was a ‘premeditated attack’.
Acquene Arradaza, 35, was snatched by three armed men while shopping in Ormoc City, the Philippines on July 31.
Police believe the former Miss Matag-ob pageant winner was murdered, hogtied and weighed down with rocks before her captors dumped her body in the sea.
Investigators were alerted of her disappearance on August 4 after a group of local fisherman found her decomposing body drifting in the water off the coast of the seaside village of Barangay 99 Diit.
Arradaza was found naked, gagged and blindfolded. Her feet and hands had been bound and a bicycle lock was tied around her neck.
Police say her face was covered with black cloth and wrapped with duct tape. Her body was also bound to two sacks that were meant to weigh her down to the bottom of the sea.
The alleged abduction was only reported by relatives on Monday, the same day her body was discovered.
Officials say Arradaza may have been able to be saved had her loved ones filed a missing persons report sooner.
Surveillance camera footage captured the moment Arradaza was abducted from a store in Valencia, Ormoc City as she was buying groceries on July 31.
A black Toyota Wigo with license plate number 1799 pulled over near the shoulder before three men stormed out and forcibly bundled the model into the vehicle.
The suspects then quickly fled scene, travelling in the direction of Kananga, Leyte.
The same vehicle was seen heading toward Tacloban City shortly after the abduction, The Manila Times reports.
Her body was spotted in the sea by local fisherman five days later, having already begun to decay.
‘The body was already in the bloated stage and it was naked,’ Police Major Shenna Layog, acting commander of the Tacloban City Police Station 2, said.
‘The tongue was already sticking out. It was also seen that the neck, hands and feet were tied. The face was covered with black cloth and even wrapped with duct tape.’
Arradaza’s family confirmed her identity through the tattoos on her back.
Police are now working to track down the suspects and investigate a motive for what appears to be a targeted and ‘premeditated attack’.
The model’s sister Patricia Arradaza reported her missing on August 4 around 8am.
She also revealed the beauty queen had spoken with a man named Pay-ap Drilon the same morning she was abducted.
Ormoc City police spokesman Lieutenant Nova Tan criticized the family for not reporting the incident earlier.
‘We could have intercepted the suspects’ vehicle at the city or municipal borders if they filed a report earlier,’ Tan said.
Arradaza’s brother, Eros Arradaza, 30, was killed in a gunfight with police during a drug bust in the same province last year.
The model’s mother Vilma Arradaza is now campaigning for justice and urging Filipino politicians to help with her daughter’s case.
