A teen has been arrested after he apparently strangled a little six-year-old girl who turned up when he was home alone and asked if she could play with his sister.

The victim, named Alice Oliveira de Moura, 6, from the city of Araci, in Bahia State, Brazil, was later found buried in land at the back of her friend’s house a day after she went missing.

Police later arrested her friend’s 15-year-old brother – whose identity was not disclosed – after he confessed he had used belt to strangle the girl before he buried her. He gave no reason for the killing.

The victim whose home was nearby had gone to play with her friend at around 3pm on Wednesday, 5th April.

But when little Alice did not come home later that day, her concerned parents called the police, who initiated a huge search to find her.

Her lifeless body was later found buried in the ground behind her friend’s house the next day, on Thursday, 6th April.

Her head was reportedly covered with a plastic bag and she still had a belt around her neck that she had been strangled with.

Officers from the Serrinha Police Station later questioned the 15-year-old boy who claimed he had told the girl his sister was not at home when she appeared at their doorstep.

But he later changed his statement and confessed he used the belt to strangle her and then buried her himself.

He was arrested and charged with homicide and the concealment of a corpse, but his motive remains unknown.

The girl’s body was meanwhile taken to the Legal Medical Institute for an autopsy.

Her funeral took place at 10am today (Friday, 7th April).