Bella Lutap
Age 2019 Jun 2026
Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija (Philippines)
Strangled
Bella's body was found in an irrigation canal 10 days after being reported missing. Her ex-boyfriend was arrested and charged with murder.
MANILA — A 20-year-old trans woman who had been reported missing for two days was found dead in an irrigation canal in Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija.
The body of the victim, Bella Lutap, was discovered in Sitio Burnao, Barangay Del Pilar at around 3:40 p.m. Friday by a farmer who is also the father of her ex-boyfriend.
“They own this land so when he visited the rice fields he saw the floating body and immediately reported it to the police,” said PMaj. Nelson Sarmiento, chief of the Zaragoza Municipal Police Station. A Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) examination revealed that stones had been tied to the victim’s body in an apparent attempt to keep it submerged in the canal. Forensic investigators also found that Lutap died of manual strangulation.
Lutap had been missing since Wednesday. Police backtracked the victim’s movements through CCTV footage, which showed that at around 12:00 a.m. on Wednesday, Lutap was picked up from her home in Barangay Cama Juan, San Antonio, Nueva Ecija, by her 25-year-old ex-boyfriend, identified only as “Calvin.”
Another CCTV camera in Barangay Macarse captured Lutap riding on the back of Calvin’s motorcycle at around 12:07 a.m. Calvin admitted picking up Lutap but claimed he later dropped her off at a street corner. However, he could not explain why he left her there.
According to investigators, Calvin had invited Lutap to discuss their relationship after they broke up nearly two weeks earlier. The meeting was supposed to take place in the presence of their friends.
https://www.bulatlat.com/2026/06/25/justice-sought-for-trans-woman-killed-in-nueva-ecija/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_c12e2t22c
