Murder or Suicide? 16-Year-Old Girl Found Hanging from a Mango Tree

The authorities are still investigating whether there was foul play involved in the death of a minor found hanging from a tree.

In Kapoy Village, Sitio Power, Barangay Tres de Mayo, Digos City, on May 12, two kids who were out early in the morning to have some fun and get a bunch of mangoes received the shock of their lives after finding the dead girl.

The two fled in fright, running towards the village to tell the elders about what they found. Quickly, the site of the incident was filled with curious people and a team from local radio station, K37 Kakampi Radio.

In a report which he later shared on his Facebook page, Jake Yakan described the scene in detail using the Visayan language. According to Yakan, the SOCO (Scene of the Crime Operatives) are gathering evidence from the scene. Although the girl appears to have hanged herself from the tree, the authorities are not immediately ruling the case as suicide.

She was identified as “Dianne” by the witnesses on site but was later revealed to be a certain Anna Mae Evangelio, 16 years old, in a report on Sun Star Super Balita Davao.

Suspected Foul Play

Yakan pointed out that the scene looks suspiciously like murder, especially because of Evangelio’s appearance. In most cases wherein victims hanged themselves, the tongue would go out of the mouth from choking yet the girl in Barangay Tres de Mayo had her mouth intact. However, after the guys from the funeral parlor cut the nylon that hanged the girl from the tree and placed her on the ground, she did not appear to have visible marks on her body aside from the ones around her neck.

There were also witnesses who came forward to say that Evangelio figured in a fight the night before with a group of 5 women, two of them were only identified as alias Neneng and alias Nelia. According to the report, Evangelio is believed to be involved in drugs and prostitution, with Neneng as her pimp.

Evangelio had reportedly gotten pregnant but was forced to sell her child for P15,000 to a still unidentified buyer; though it was Nelia who allegedly helped sell the baby.

Barangay Captain Oscar Bucol expressed disbelief that the young woman killed herself; though he confirmed that there were talks she was involved in drugs in the neighborhood.

The old man who owns the house where Evangelio also believes foul play was involved in the girl’s death, saying she was a good girl although she is often out at night with her friends.

Click here to watch the video on Jake Yakan’s FB page. Warning: Graphic content!