Story By: James King, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash

Police have arrested the cousin of an 11-year-old girl found raped and then stabbed at least 10 times after she was stolen from the bed where she was sleeping and carried outside while her family was having a New Year’s Eve party.

The body of little Yoselin Ailen Rodriguez Pereyra was found in a vacant lot in the small town of Media Agua in the Argentine province of San Juan, and a murder investigation was instantly launched after it became clear that she had been sexually assaulted and then stabbed 10 times in the neck.

Police investigating the case swiftly arrested her cousin after two witnesses claimed they had seen him walking around nervously and with dirt on his clothes the following morning.

Prosecutor Ivan Grassi said that the little girl had fallen asleep during New Year celebrations at her uncle’s home.

When her family members went to fetch her in the morning, they could not find her, and when they went looking for her, they were horrified to find her lifeless body in the overgrown plot of land around 100 metres from the house.

The accused was one of those at the party, and he was identified as 24-year-old Juan Carlos Rodriguez. He apparently picked his cousin up from the room where she was sleeping and carried her away with her mouth covered so that she wouldn’t scream, according to investigators.

After the girl’s stabbed body was found, the police confirmed that there were also signs of sexual abuse, and they discovered a knife believed to be the murder weapon around 50 metres from the corpse.

The victim’s aunt Fabiana Pereyra published a photo of the arrested man, writing: “This is the human scourge…Juan Carlos Rodriguez, who raped and stabbed my angel 10 times… He has killed us all as a family.”