The dead face of a mystery girl, who was raped and murdered and then dumped outside a shop, was splashed in Malaysian newspapers Wednesday in a brutal case that has shocked the nation.

The New Straits Times, which ran the image of the tiny girl's battered face over most of its front page, said it was an outrage that "child-preying monsters" were at work, and that no parent had reported her missing.

"Why has no one come forward to claim her as their own?" it asked.

The body of the unknown girl, believed to be between eight and 10 years old, was found naked and curled in the foetal position, stuffed in a sports bag that was left at a shop in suburban Kuala Lumpur.

Newspaper reports said police were investigating whether the culprit was a serial molester who snatched and tortured two girls, aged five and six, in the same way that the dead child had been abused.

Petaling Jaya police chief Arjunaidi Mohamed told the New Straits Times that the girl had been assaulted with foreign objects that ruptured her intestines.

The Star newspaper said she was also bruised on her hands and neck, suggesting she may have been strangled.

Police initially suspected the child was a missing eight-year-old girl who disappeared after going to a night market near her home last month, but after viewing the body the parents said it was not their daughter.