Murder suspect of beheaded toddler believed to have drowned

The murder suspect of a young girl found beheaded at the Klang River bank located at Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin on Thursday night is believed to have drowned.

Kuala Lumpur Crime Investigation Department chief, Senior Asst Comm Gan Kong Meng said that the suspect was believed to have tried to escape by jumping into the Klang River.

“The public who witnessed the incident had tried to capture the suspect by walking along the Klang river bank. They saw the man gasping for air before losing him to the river current. We believe that the suspect might have drowned,” stated Gan in a statement to Astro AWANI.

A massive search launched to track the suspect had to be stopped on Thursday as it was getting too dark.

“The search is still ongoing with the police being aided by employees of the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), Fire and Rescue Department and the Kuala Lumpur Civil Defence Department.

Police have received reports from members of the public who witnessed the suspect trying to drown a child at the Klang river bank near the Jalan Tun Sambathan train station in Kuala Lumpur.

Police who then rushed to the scene and found the body of a fully-clothed child between the age of two and three lying face down.

“The victim was found to have suffered serious injuries on the back of her head caused by being hit. This also caused the child’s head to be severed from her body,” said Gan.

Fragments of ceramics with traces of blood and a pair of slippers were found at the scene of the crime.

“Police have managed to trace the victim’s mother aged 32-years-old and found that she is jobless and homeless,” added Gan.

According to the statement provided by the victim’s mother, while window shopping on the 4th floor of the Kota Raya Complex, she had left her child with her friends who were with her, to go to the toilet.

“She had asked her friends who were together to watch her daughter. Five minutes later she (mother) found her daughter missing,” said Gan.

The victim’s mother and her friends had tried to locate the child but failed.

“According to information provided by the public, a witness saw a dark man carrying a child along the Klang river and laid the child down. He later hit the child on the head with an object,” the statement said.

The man was also seen to have been doing something to the child’s neck.

“Several members of the public rushed to save the child and realising that he was being chased, the suspect jumped into the Klang river before being swept by the current,” the statement said.

The case is being investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code and the victim’s body has been sent to the Kuala Lumpur hospital for post-mortem.