Body of suspect in toddler's murder found
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KUALA LUMPUR: The body of the man believed to have brutally beheaded a two-year-old girl at the Klang River near Jalan Tun Sambanthan on Thursday has been found after a two-day search.
The body of the man believed to have abducted and decapitated a toddler at the Klang River in Kuala Lumpur has been found after a two-day search.
Selangor Fire and Rescue Department assistant operations director Mohd Sani Harul confirmed the recovery of the body at 4pm near the banks of Sungai Petaling Jaya in Sunway Selangor.
Azizan also said police have confirmed that the body found was that of the suspect.
The man had abducted Siti Soffea Emelda, who was two-and-a-half years old, from the Kota Raya shopping mall in the city on Thursday.
Police believe that the suspect had attempted to rape the girl, and hit her when she struggled.
Mohd Sani said the Fire and Rescue Department received a call at 2.50pm from a member of the public.
"The complainant had spotted a man's body floating in the river," he said, adding that emergency services were immediately despatched to the scene, located near the Sunway toll plaza.
The body of a man, believed to be in his 20s, was fished out of the river by divers.
Police took possession of the body, which has been sent to the hospital for a post-mortem.
In Thursday's incident, closed-circuit television video footage at Kota Raya shopping mall showed a man taking Siti Soffea away forcibly.
The footage also revealed that a security guard had witnessed the scene but did not stop the man from taking away the girl.
Siti Soffea's mother, Siti Salmy Suib, 32, had left her daughter with friends on the fourth floor of the mall while she went to the toilet.
When Siti Salmy returned, Siti Soffea was nowhere to be seen. A frantic search failed to reveal the girl's whereabouts.
In the incident which shocked the nation, two witnesses said they saw a man carrying a toddler while making his way through the long grass by the river banks.
The eyewitnesses, from Sabah, saw the suspect, who is believed to have been recently released from prison, taking Siti Soffea across the Klang River.
They saw the suspect pushing Siti Soffea on her back and striking her with an object when she struggled.
Upon seeing the suspect strangling the victim while pushing her onto the ground, they alerted auxiliary police at the nearby Public Bank building.
The suspect jumped into the river in an attempt to escape.
It is believed that he was carried away by strong currents, prompting a two-day search operation.
Siti Soffea's body was found with the head lying nearby. She was clad in a pair of white pants and nappy.
Her body was claimed by her mother from the Kuala Lumpur Hospital mortuary yesterday and buried at the Batu Muda Muslim cemetery in Gombak. – May 31, 2014.
Search for suspect who allegedly killed toddler continues
KUALA LUMPUR: The search for a male suspect, said to have jumped into a river after killing a girl, aged two years and six months, last Thursday, continued on Saturday.
Kuala Lumpur Criminal Investigation Department head SAC Gan Kong Meng said the search for the suspect resumed at about 10.50am with the assistance of seven personnel from the Kuala Lumpur Fire and Rescue Department and the scuba unit.
"The search will be extended to Selangor with the assistance of the Selangor Fire and Rescue Department, up to Puchong," he said when contacted by Bernama.
Bernama reporters who went to the search area saw three kayaks used in the operation.
The body of the beheaded girl was found near the KTM station at Jalan Tun Sambanthan at about 9pm on Friday.
Police searched the area and found ceramic tile shards, believed to have been used to slash the girl.
According to media report, a witness claimed to have seen a man bending over something that looked like a doll before slamming her head with something and then slashing her throat.
The man was alleged to have abducted the girl, who was left by her mother in the care of a friend, to go to the toilet at a shopping centre. - Bernama
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