DINALUPIHAN, Bataan: Police on Tuesday arrested a 56-year-old carpenter suspected in the rape-slay of his own nine-year-old niece, who had been found dead some meters away from their family compound in Barangay Santo Niño here.

Chief Inspector Eduardo Guevara Jr., Dinalupihan police chief, said Leonardo Aquino, a widower, was no longer a person of inte­rest but a suspect in the death of Danica Santos, a Grade 4 pupil.