Kristelle “Kae” Davantes had it all. At 25, the world was her oyster – she was young, smart, beautiful, and blessed with a career she has diligently built on passion and hard work.
All that changed in the morning of September 7.
Kae’s body was found at Tibagan Bridge in Barangay Sabutan, Silang, Cavite at around six in the morning. She had wounds on her neck, her mouth was gagged with a handkerchief, and her body was tied by a seatbelt.
Initial investigation revealed she was not sexually abused.
Her car, a metallic beige Toyota Altis (Plate No. PIM 966), is still missing.
The question that remains is why Kae was killed.
Hours before
According to police reports, Kae, a senior account manager at McCann Worldgroup Philippines’ digital marketing agency MRM Manila, was out with friends on a usual Friday nightcap at a bar in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) before she went missing.
In an earlier Inquirer report, Taguig police’s deputy chief for operations, Supt. Celso Rodriguez, said that Davantes checked out at exactly 9:36 p.m. from the McCann office at Active Fun Building along 9th Avenue in BGC.
At exactly 1:07 a.m., she was last seen driving out of the BGC East parking lot alone, according to police.
In a separate report from ABS-CBN news, Kae’s uncle Vincent said that Kae texted her family around midnight to say she was on her way home. However, at around 2:00 a.m., she still hasn’t arrived home. Thirty minutes after, they tried calling her but her phone just kept ringing. And soon, it went dead.
Panic ensued. Her brother posted on Instagram that Kae is missing.
She never made it home.
Still Clueless
Was she killed somewhere else before being dumped in Cavite?
Was it a case of carnapping gone bad?
Who could have done the heinous crime?
All these questions await answers.
But four days after her body was discovered, it appears that the police are still nowhere near solving the mystery surrounding Kae’s untimely death.
Silang police chief, Supt. Dario Roxas, in a phone interview with the Inquirer on Tuesday said that according to scene of the crime operatives’ initial findings, Kae’s body had been under the Tibagan bridge in Barangay Sabutan for two hours before a resident found it and reported it to the authorities around 6 a.m. on Saturday.
Investigators are also optimistic that the result of the autopsy on Kae’s body could give them leads.
Sworn statements from family, co-workers, and friends of Kae have also been turned in, while security camera recordings in establishments where Kae was last seen and on the roads she could have passed are being collected in the hope of piecing together what could have transpired in the hours between her departure from the BGC parking lot and the time her body was found.
Missing Links
Kae’s car, which she was last seen driving out of the BGC parking lot, remains missing. Authorities are looking at the possibility that the motive behind her killing was carnapping.
Along with her car, Kae’s handbag, which contains her iPhone and Blackberry is also missing.
Police are trying to get hold of records of Kae’s final communication. “If there were fights [with anyone close to her], we would find out from the messages she had sent. We tried calling her cell phone but it was already turned off,” Supt. Roxas said in an Inquirer report.
Gone Too Soon
According to reports, Kae, is engaged to be married in May 2014.
She was a senior account manager at MRM Manila where she was said to be up for a promotion.
She started working with McCann Worldgroup Philippines’ MRM in September 2011.
She earned her master’s degree in Marketing Communications from De La Salle University, and a Business Administration degree from Southville Foreign University.
A Cry for Justice
Justice for Kae, a Facebook page, has been created by Kae’s friends on Monday.
“Families and friends, let’s all unite. We will not stop until we find justice…To our Kae, we love you so much,” the Facebook page profile read.
Pressed for details about Kae’s death, the family has graciously asked the public to give them time to grieve, “For now, we would appreciate that you continue to spread this awareness so we can get the justice KAE deserves,” read the post.
