Operatives of the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence Response Unit have arrested three brothers who killed a mother of five in Abuja and fled to their hometown in Isiekenesi, Ideato Local Government Area of Imo State.
This was disclosed by the Force Public Relations Office, Deputy Commissioner of Police Frank Mba.
According to Mba, the mother of five, Janet Nnenna Ogbonnaya, had gone to visit one of the brothers with whom she was friend on Facebook, Johnson Emmanuel, in Abuja when she was murdered and her body dumped in a septic tank.
Johnson, 38, conspired with his brother, Gideon Emmanuel, 31; and Success Emmanuel, 27, in the kidnap and gruesome murder of Ogbonnaya on May 14, 2020.
The suspects, born by same parents, were arrested by the Police in their hometown where they had taken refuge after committing the crime in Abuja in order to evade police arrest.
Mba said the unravelling of the murder started with a complaint by Ogbonnaya’s son, Chinedu, who alleged that his 55-year-old mother, from Ozuitem in Bende LGA of Abia State, had been kidnapped and a N5 million ransom demanded before she could be released.
He said a comprehensive and painstaking investigation by the police operatives resulted in the arrest of the Emmanuel brother, who, in the course of interrogation, revealed that the victim had long been murdered and buried.
Further findings revealed that the victim, a widow, who had been a Facebook friend of the principal suspect, Johnson, was lured from her home in Gwagwalada to visit the suspect.
The suspect thereafter took advantage of the visit, served her yoghurt laced with drugs and subsequently had her murdered.
The suspect having killed the victim and buried her remains in a septic tank, went ahead to reach out to the family of the victim using her phone and demanded N5 million ransom as pre-condition for her release.
The suspects on Thursday led a team of investigators alongside pathologists to a residence at Wumba District, Lokogoma, Abuja, where the victim’s decomposing body was exhumed from a septic tank.
The exhumed body has been taken to the University Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada, Abuja for forensic examination.
A Toyota Highlander Jeep belonging to the deceased has also been recovered by Police operatives at a mechanic workshop in Apo, where it had been repainted into a different colour, vehicle documents fraudulently changed and ownership of the stolen vehicle criminally transferred to one of the masterminds of the crime, Johnson.
Investigations also revealed that the house where the deceased was killed and buried originally belonged to one of the suspects, but was hurriedly sold-off to a third party apparently to obliterate evidence.
Mba said the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, while commending the operatives for a job well done, reassured that perpetrators of any form of crime in the country will not go undetected and unpunished.
Adamu enjoined Nigerians to be more security conscious and report suspicious activities within their neighbourhood to the nearest police station.
