Provincial police are investigating the rape and murder of a 15-year-old schoolgirl after she was found dead in a Kampot province forest on Saturday.

According to Seng Vat, Kandorl commune police chief, victim Chong Sreyleak was a student at a local secondary school and lived with her grandmother, Nget Choan, in Kandorl’s Phnom Touch village in Teuk Chhou district.

Sreyleak disappeared on Friday morning and her naked body was found by family members on Saturday morning in a forest just 600 metres from her home.

“According to the body examination at the site, she was raped and her neck was broken, killing her,” Vat said.

He said authorities were investigating the murder by examining the fingerprints left on the victim’s clothes, found under her body.

“I believe the suspect who raped and killed her is a person she knew,” said Oeng Sokun, Kampot provincial deputy police chief in charge of penal crime.

“We will be able to identify the suspect soon.”

The victim’s father, construction worker Chong Thy, 45, said in an interview that he filed a complaint to police yesterday to seek justice for his daughter.

“I felt awful when I overheard from my mother-in-law that my daughter was raped and killed,” he said.

“I need the police to find and arrest the suspect and punish them.”