By Uche Nnorom,Makurdi
A young lady Dorcas Shangev, a resident of Makurdi has been gruesomely murdered by unknown persons in Makurdi, Benue State capital.
The incident took place at a suburb called Adem in Welfare quarters on 16th July, 2023 where her dismembered body was discovered.
A source who pleaded anonymity said on Friday, 14th July, 2023, Dorcas travelled with her friend for the burial of her brother in-law.
The source said they returned to Makurdi on Saturday after the burial but Dorcas didn’t go back home but slept at her friend’s house located around the modern market area.
“The next day, Sunday, 16th July, 2023, was her birthday, she left her friend’s house with a promise to call her by 3pm, so they can 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 pick her calls. The friend kept calling the whole of Sunday and continued till Monday, but she still didn’t pick the phone.
“On Monday, the friend got a message that was sent from the lady’s (deceased) phone, but later on realised that she may not have been the one that actually sent the message, asking her to come to a certain address and when her friend got to the place, she discovered that she was dead and dismembered and some of her body parts strewn all over the place.
“While in a state of shock she called her husband to the scene and the husband in turn called the police and it was discovered that her eyes, ears, tongue, breasts among other body parts were removed and taken away by whoever may have perpetrated the act.
“When the Police saw that the corpse had started to decompose, they called in one of the State agencies, which came, gathered the body parts into a plastic bag, took and buried her.
“This lady has been through a lot in recent times. She has gone through one trauma or another. And recently, she lost her elder sister.
The Venue State Environmental Sanitation Agency that Evacuated the corpse, confirmed that they received a letter from the Police requesting the agency to remove the corpse and bury it.
Acting General Manager of BENSESA Martin Tseuma who said that they evacuated the corpse on Wednesday at about 4 pm after receiving report from the Police on Tuesday evening.
He said the corpse had not decompose at the time they evacuated it, adding that they do not know the identity of the lady and the evacuation was done in Adem, Welfare quarters.
“We didn’t recover the body. The police at B division wrote to us that they have 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 do know the family. But the family came to my office this morning 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”, Martin said.
All efforts to get confirmation from the Police Public Relations’ Officer SP Catherine Anene failed as she neither pick the reporter call or reply to text message sent to her phone.
