Ebonyi: Corpse Disappears From Mortuary On Burial Day

The corpse of a woman identified as Late Madam Grace Orjiokoro, has gone missing from a mortuary in Ebonyi State.

The burial which had been scheduled could not be held due to the disappearance of the corpse.

The remains of Orjiokoro was deposited at the General Hospital Mortuary Owutu Edda in Afikpo South Local Government Area after she died in the hospital.

It was gathered that Orjiokoro died at the hospital at 80-years-old on July 2, 2021.

The family of the deceased were shocked when they went to the mortuary on December 28 to take the corpse for burial only to discover that it was missing.

Relations and well wishers had gathered at the residence of the deceased only for the news to filter in that the corpse has gone missing.

A brother of the deceased, Fred Okoro, said he was surprised when the family members went to collect the remains on the burial day, only to discover that a different corpse was kept in the morgue for them.

According to Okoro, they suspected something fishy a month after they made a deposit at the mortuary.

He further stated that everytime they tried to see the corpse, the morticians always claimed that the morgue was fumigated.

Pastor Okoro said it dawned on them when the family members went to the mortuary to get the corpse for lying in state and burial only to discover that a strange corpse was presented to them.

“The corpse presented to us was not ours because my sister is tall, about 6ft tall and we discovered that the person was short.

“Not only that, my sister plaited hair that fell down on her shoulder at the time of death but this one has a low cut hair.”

The daughter of the deceased, who is a Naval Officer, Welsie Okoro, described the development as unbelievable.

She noted that when the case was reported at the Owutu Police Station, the morticians claimed that they mistakenly handed her mother’s corpse to another family for burial.

Weslie added, “And even the mortuary attendant Mr Felix said one of his colleagues said he knows the person he gave mother’s corpse to.”

Pastor Okoro said he suspected foul play as those alleged to have mistaken his sister’s corpse for theirs had refuted the allegation.

“It was discovered that those people deposited the body in May whereas my sister was deposited in July 2nd.”

The Manager of the Mortuary, Mr Vincent Ude, said he was doing everything possible to recover the corpse.

“Investigations are still on now, I am sure we are going to recover the corpse,” he said.