Romanian police have requested a Europeam arrest warrant be issued for a Dutch national suspected of the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl at the weekend.

The man, said to be aged 46, apparently left Romania by plane after the crime but his whereabouts are unknown. Dutch police have referred all inquiries to the Romanian authorities.

Eleven-year-old Mihaela disappeared on Friday on her way home from school. Her body was found on the edge of a corn field just a mile from her home three days later. According to one Romanian media report, she had been suffocated with her own clothing and had been sexually assaulted.

Romanian media also report the suspect is a known paedophile and has a criminal record in the Netherlands. Dutch police have not confirmed this.

Sources told Romanian television the man arrived in Romania on September 18, spent a day in Bucharest and arrived in the girl’s village of Gura Sutii a day later.

Romanian television has also broadcast surveillance footage showing the girl in a car driven by the man.