Police exhume body of an elderly woman behind her house

 

Police in  Kilifi County have exhumed the body of a 70-year-old woman killed and secretly buried in a shallow grave a few metres behind her house at Mitulani village in Chonyi sub-county.

Ziporah Wilmote went missing a month ago, prompting her family to report the matter to the police.

Chonyi sub-county police commander Suleiman Nzovu said the deceased was buried with her identification card.

The ID was retrieved inside the grave beside the deceased’s body.

‘’We have retrieved the body in a very shallow grave; the body was put inside a sack with her ID and buried together," said Nzovu.

The police boss said the woman was reported missing on July 4, and the search for the deceased began.

'We visited her house and searched everywhere, but we never saw her. " Ziporah was a resident here; she is a Meru by tribe but got married here," said Nzovu.

The police boss says they got a tip-off a week ago that a grave site had been seen behind the deceased's house, and upon investigation, they discovered that it was indeed a shallow grave.

"After the tip-off we visited and realised that there was soft soil at the scene, and we preserved the scene," said the police boss.

The deceased’s grave was noticed by children who were playing behind the house after a heavy rain pounded the area and exposed it.

Villagers stated that on the fateful night, there was a disco Matanga in the neighbourhood, and the assailants used the opportunity to commit the heinous act since most of the family members had gone to the night vigil, and due to the loud music, people could not hear the deceased’s screams.

Nzovu says two suspects are in custody in connection with the murder.

"We have two suspects in custody. We are waiting for the postmortem report to be released; then we will do thorough investigations so that we can establish if they are indeed linked with this murder," said Nzovu.

The deceased body was taken to Kilifi Referral Hospital's funeral home as investigations continue.

The police commander said the pathologist will carry out a postmortem to examine the cause of death.

Nzovu has urged community members who might have any information on the death of the deceased to volunteer and record their statements with the police to help in the investigations.

''Let them feel free to visit us and make a report. I also want the community to be open to report on these crimes so that we can put them to an end," he said.

Chasimba's assistant county commissioner, Silvestor Momanyi, urged locals to stop taking matters into their own hands and instead report issues to the police in case of any community wrangles and disagreements.

Momanyi has also urged locals to cooperate with the police as investigations continue to pin the suspects.

‘’This is a very sad matter. The suspects who are in custody may have committed the act because of money. They could have looked for other ways of getting money,'' Momanyi said.

"For almost two months now people have been searching for the deceased," he added. The exhumation was done together with pathologists and public health officers.

This comes barely a week after police exhumed the body of a 50-year-old woman in Magangani village in Malindi subcounty who was allegedly murdered and secretly buried by her son.