Eduard Perju, 16, had been together with school beauty Elena Diana Gugulica for a year and the couple were widely envied by their friends
A Romanian teenager has confessed to strangling his 16-year-old girlfriend to death by pretending to give her a necklace - and then choking her with a cable tie.
Eduard Perju, 16, had been together with school beauty Elena Diana Gugulica for a year and the couple were widely envied by their friends.
The good-looking pair were top of the class at school but in recent weeks the relationship had soured and Eduard had accused his girlfriend of planning to leave him.
Determined that this would not happen, he told police that he invited her to the the park where he told her he had a present for her, local media claim.
When she turned up, he gave her a kiss, told her he loved her then said he wanted to give her a gift and asked her to turn round.
He then pulled out the cable tie and used it to strangle her.
Perju told detectives: "I kissed her, and told her I loved her, and then I asked her to turn round so I could give her the necklace, but I strangled her instead."
The plastic cable tie that he had used was still in his pocket.
The young girl's body was found by a woman walking her dog, who raised the alarm.
Police initially suspected suicide, but then found out that she had been strangled and launched a murder investigation.
After questioning her boyfriend, he eventually confessed that he had strangled her.
Neighbours who said he had been completely normal, even cheerful in the last few days.
Neighbour Mircea Ionescu, 39, said: "I am still struggling to accept it, I mean I saw him a few hours before his arrest and he was really cheerful, he said hello to me and looked completely normal, in fact I'd even say he looked happy.
"Certainly not at all worried, like somebody who had just murdered his girlfriend.
"Everyone around here had him down as a polite boy, who comes from a really good family whose parents are both respectful and hard-working."