Police in the northern Philippines are investigating the murder of former Windward O'ahu resident and U.S. Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell, whose body was discovered Wednesday, 10 days after she was reported missing.

Campbell was a freelance journalist who had reported for The New York Times and other media organizations.

Arrangements are being made for the body to be flown home from Manila, said Misajon, who hoped to visit Virginia this weekend during a business trip to be with Campbell's family.

In a statement, Campbell's family in Fairfax, Va., said she had "lived a very full life."

The statement said: "She loved her family and friends and is much loved. She was passionate in her journalism, reporting especially the stories involving people who were able to stand and address adversity or adverse situations. We have every confidence that the U.S. and Philippine authorities are conducting a thorough investigation into Julia's untimely death."

Campbell had been teaching English at the Divine Word College in Albay province's Legazpi City, southeast of Manila, since October 2006.

"It is unfortunate that a committed and selfless person who has ... obviously grown to love our country met a tragic end here," said Ignacio Bunye, spokesman for Philippine President Gloria Magapagal Arroyo.

Soldiers discovered Campbell's body in a shallow dry creek grave in Banaue township, a mountainous tourist area in the northern Philippines. Police recovered belongings scattered near the body, including coins and clothes.

Senior Superintendent Pedro Ganir, police chief of Ifugao province, which includes Banaue, said investigators were looking into "robbery with homicide or rape with homicide." He said the husband of a woman who sold a Coca-Cola to Campbell before she headed off on a hike in the area's famed mountainside rice terraces is a suspect.