By Sunday Ogli, Makurdi
A young lady in her 30s, Dorcas Shangev, has been brutally murdered at Agem Village, near Welfare Quarters in Makurdi, Benue State capital.
Dorcas was killed on her birthday and her body was dismembered; even as her eyes, ears, tongue, breasts among other body parts were removed and taken away.
A source who pleaded anonymity told journalists that Dorcas had on Friday, 14th July, 2023, escorted a friend of hers to the burial of her brother-in-law.
When they returned back to Makurdi the following day (Saturday) after the burial, Dorcas did not go back home but slept at her friend’s house around the Modern Market area of the state capital.
According to the source “The next day, Sunday, 16th July, 2023, was her birthday, she left her friend’s house with a promise to call her friend by 3:00pm, 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 source said.
However, the Acting General Manager of Benue State Environmental and Sanitation Agency, BENSESA, Martin Tseuma, when contacted, said his agency did not recover the body.
In his words: “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 how do we 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,” Tseuma said.
When contacted, the spokesperson of the state Police Command, SP Catherine Anene, said she was yet to be briefed.
