Police in Benue recover dismembered body of missing lady
Story from Christine TOBECHUKWUA
The corpse of a woman identified as Dorcas Shangev was found by the police 24 hours after she celebrated her birthday and went missing. The police reported that some of her body parts were missing when her corpse was recovered.
It was gathered that the lady who is said to be in her 30s and resided at Owner Occupier in the Makurdi metropolis had earlier attended a burial ceremony but never made it back home.
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A friend of hers who pleaded to remain anonymous told journalists on Monday that the deceased had on July 14th, 2023, accompanied her to her brother-in-law’s burial.
She said, “They all returned to Makurdi the following day, July 15, 2023. That day, she didn’t go back home but slept in her friend’s house around the Modern Market area.
“The next day, Sunday, July 16, 2023, was her birthday. She left her friend’s house with a promise to call her friend by 3 pm so that they could sit out.
“However, when she didn’t call back as arranged, the friend called to find out why she hadn’t called, but she didn’t take her calls. The friend kept calling her throughout Sunday and continued till Monday, July 17, but she still didn’t take the call.”
She explained that on Monday, the friend got a message that was sent from the deceased’s telephone, asking her to come to a certain address and when her friend got to the place, she discovered that she was dead and her body dismembered.
The source further disclosed that she was terrified of seeing the dead body of her friend. She stated that she immediately called her husband to the scene, and the husband, in turn, called the Benue state police.
Authorities disclosed that her eyes, ears, tongue, and breasts among other body parts had been removed and taken away by the killers and that men of the Benue State Environmental Sanitation Agency later evacuated the body for burial.
When contacted, the acting General Manager, BENSESA, Martin Tseuma, confirmed that they had evacuated the corpse last Wednesday around 4 pm after receiving a report from the police on Tuesday.
Tseuma said, “The Police at ‘B’ Division wrote to us that they discovered an unknown corpse at Adem village, near Welfare Quarters.
“It was based on the report that they said we should evacuate the body for burial, and that was what we did. We didn’t contact anyone because we don’t know the family.
“But the family members came to my office this morning, Monday, July 24, 2023, and I directed them to go back to the police where they got the story of the unclaimed corpse. We were working based on the report from the police.”
The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Catherine Anene, confirmed the report by simply saying “The incident is confirmed.”