PETALING JAYA - The police managed to locate two more child witnesses related to the death of autistic child Zayn Rayyan Abdul Matiin, 6, through a mass screening conducted recently.
Selangor Police Chief Datuk Hussein Omar Khan said so far, the police have taken 86 statements and more statements will be taken if necessary.
"So far we have obtained 238 DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) samples with an additional 10 samples.
"As a result of the mass screening, the police managed to track down two child witnesses who saw the victim on the second and third floor in Blok R, Idaman Apartment on the evening Zayn Rayyan was found missing," he said.
Hussein said, according to the witnesses, Zayn Rayyan was last seen alive around his apartment block in Damansara Damai, Petaling Jaya, about 5pm on Dec 5.
This was about five hours after he reportedly went missing.
He said the two children told police they saw the six-year-old autistic child wandering alone in the corridor of Levels 2 and 3 of Block R.
"During a police mass screening exercise, we managed to find two child witnesses who saw the victim at Level 2 and Level 3 of Block R between 5pm and 5.30pm on Dec 5.
"The victim was seen alone in the corridor," he said.
Earlier, it was reported that the police had taken 228 DNA samples from the residents of Apartment Indah to help investigations.
Hussein reportedly said all 228 DNA samples were taken from some residents in all 18 blocks of Idaman Apartments, including residents in Block R.
"The police have also completed house-to-house inspections, including shops involving 18 blocks with 2,484 units.
"The number of individuals who were examined consisted of 5,628 people involving the residents of the apartment," he said.
Hussein added that police forensics experts are still working to compare all the samples and DNA profiles in the police databank with evidence that investigators have collected.
Last week, Zayn Rayyan reportedly went missing on the afternoon of Dec 5.
According to news reports, the boy and her mother were taking the stairs to their apartment unit at Level 3 when she realised he was nowhere to be seen.
Zayn's mother had then tried searching for Zayn Rayyan, before she posted on Facebook seeking assistance from anyone around the area to locate the boy.
The authorities later mounted a search party to look for the boy, but residents assisted it.
After efforts to locate the victim were unsuccessful, police launched a door-to-door search operation in the evening of Dec 6, before Zayn Rayyan's body was discovered by a stream about 200 metres from his home about 10pm.
He was initially presumed to have drowned, but police later reclassified the case as murder after a post-mortem carried out by forensics experts revealed that the victim had been strangled.
There were also defensive wounds found on his body, according to police.