6-Year-Old Allegedly Raped, Strangled To Death By Neighbor

A man in the Indian state of Kerala was arrested Monday after he allegedly raped and killed a 6-year-old girl last week.

The girl had been found by her brother hanging in a room in the Churakkulam estate located in Vandiperiyar, Idukki on June 30, The New Indian Express reported.

Police had initially registered the case as an unnatural death, but an autopsy report had revealed that the girl had been raped allegedly by her 22-year-old neighbor, identified as Arjun, before she was strangled to death, according to the outlet.

"Arjun had raped the child several times before she was found hanging," a police official was quoted as saying by the news outlet.

Additionally, a post-mortem examination conducted at Kottayam Medical College revealed the girl had been a victim of severe torture as well, a report by local newspaper the Kerala Kaumudi said.

According to the autopsy result, Arjun could have been abusing the victim for days while her parents were going to work in the morning.

Arjun then hanged the girl on the day of the incident when the victim lost consciousness in an attempt to hide his crimes, as per The New Indian Express. The older neighbor even took part in the girl's funeral and acted emotional over her death.

Police arrested Arjun following an investigation conducted under the leadership of Vandiperiyar CI T D Sunil Kumar.

A 29-year-old man from Kansas City, Missouri received a lifetime prison sentence late last month over a similar incident involving the death of his neighbor.

Cedric Russell was sentenced on June 24 to life without parole, plus at least 30 years, for murdering Ashley Geddes. The 24-year-old victim was found strangled to death inside her apartment on June 1, 2017.

Russell, who lived in the townhouse next to Geddes' apartment building, became a suspect after investigators found DNA evidence and fingerprints linking him to the crime scene.

He was convicted in April of this year by a Jackson County jury of first-degree murder, first-degree sodomy, second-degree burglary, stealing, first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle and tampering with physical evidence.