Police operatives attached to the Intelligence Response Unit of the Nigeria Police Force have arrested three suspects for the kidnap and gruesome murder of one Mrs Janet Nnenna Ogbonnaya on 14th May, 2020.
The suspects namely Johnson Emmanuel (38yrs), Gideon Emmanuel (31yrs), and Success Emmanuel (27yrs) who are all brothers were arrested by the police in their hometown in Ideato LGA, Imo State, where they had taken refuge after committing the crime in order to evade police arrest.
According to Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, investigations that led to their arrest began after a complaint was received from Chinedu Ogbonnaya, the son of the victim, who is a mother of five, that his mother had been kidnapped and a 5-Million naira ransom was demanded.
The 55-year-old victim, a native of Ozuitem in Bende LGA of Abia State, was killed after visiting Johnson in his home.
Mba revealed;
The victim, a widow, who had been a Facebook friend of the principal suspect, Johnson Emmanuel, 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 after killing the victim and burying her remains in a septic tank went ahead to reach out to the family of the victim using her phone and demanded N5m ransom as pre-condition for her release.
Mba revealed that 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.
He said the exhumed body has been taken to the University Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada, Abuja for forensic examination, adding that:
A Toyota Highlander SUV 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 Emmanuel.
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 conceal evidence.
