The police in Imo State said they have found the body of a missing 36-year-old woman in the state.
The victim, Uchechi Nwachukwu, a staff member of Halim 633 Synergy Cooking Gas Station in Owerri, left home for work on 24 October but did not return home.
The police spokesperson in the state, Michael Abattam, disclosed this in a statement on Monday.
How the corpse was discovered
Mr Abattam, a chief superintendent of police, said police operatives swung into action after the family reported that the victim was missing.
He said detectives from the forensic section of the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department were detailed to investigate Ms Nwachukwu’s “mysterious disappearance”.
The investigation was carried out in conjunction with a team of crime scene investigators led by Fredrick Obele, an inspector, according to the police.
The police spokesperson said the operatives suspected foul play when they noticed a blood stain on the wall of the gas station’s fence after a careful search of the premises.
“They (police operatives) carefully and professionally traced the blood stain to an area where dried grasses were packed deceptively with two heavy stones placed on them to create an impression that nothing has been done around the area for a long time. But the operatives were not fooled,” he said.
“They removed the heavy stones, the grasses and gently dug out the earth, alas, an offensive stench oozed out. They dug further only to discover it was a shallow grave and inside was a shovel and a cutlass and the decomposing body of Miss Joy Uchechi Nwachukwu,” Mr Abattam stated.
The operatives exhumed the body and deposited it at the morgue of the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, for autopsy, he said.
Arrests of suspects
The police spokesperson said two suspects have been arrested and are undergoing interrogation for alleged murder.
He said two other suspects were on the run.
“The police operatives are not relenting in their search for the fleeing suspects and within the shortest possible time, they will be arrested and made to face the full wrath of the law,” Mr Abattam said.
