KUALA LUMPUR: Police today confirmed that the decomposed body discovered in Banting on Saturday is believed to be that of the 15-year-old girl who was reported missing on Dec 19.
Selangor police chief Datuk Hussein Omar Khan said the investigation into the girl's disappearance has been reclassified as a murder case.
Hussein said police had initially opened an investigation into the disappearance of the girl as a missing person case, following a report lodged by her boyfriend, who claimed that the victim had been missing since Dec 19.
"A body was found in RTB Sg Changgang on Dec 28, believed to be that of the missing person.
"The body was found in a decomposed state and could not be identified through physical recognition.
"As such, a post-mortem was conducted at Banting Hospital," he said in a statement today.
Hussein, however, said the police are still awaiting the results of the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) analysis to confirm the identity of the victim.
"We need to wait for DNA confirmation, which we expect within a day or two," he said.
"Following the discovery of the body, the Kajang district police's Criminal Investigation Division has reclassified the missing person case to a case under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder," he added.
Hussein also said that police have arrested three people, aged between 16 and 51, including the victim's boyfriend, to facilitate the investigation into the case.
It was reported that a 15-year-old girl was reported missing after attending a lion dance practice at a basketball court on Dec 19.
The family of the girl, upon realising that the victim did not return home, lodged a police report at 2.15am the following day.
He said the family informed the police that the victim had attended the lion dance practice at the basketball court and was supposed to return home directly.
However, by 10.30 pm, she did not return.