Nigerian Police Arrest Man For Allegedly Killing And Burying Young Lady

The victim and the suspect

Source: Africa Publicity

Police in Nigeria’s Edo State have arrested a 31-year-old man named Joshua Osaigbovo over the alleged killing of a 21-year-old Nigerian lady called Osato Festus Edogiaweria.

The murder is said to have taken place in Benin City and police operatives have since exhumed the dead body of the lady from a shallow grave near the suspect’s residence in the Iyanomon community, located in the Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of the state, where he had buried her.

A spokesperson for the Edo State Police Command, CSP Moses Yamu, announced the murder and the arrest of the suspect in a statement released on Friday, June 20, 2025.

According to the statement, the police Family Unit operatives arrested the suspect through a thorough investigation and technical intelligence.

The investigation, the statement pointed out, started after a missing person report was filed on April 25, 2025, at the Aduwawa Division by Mrs. Ojo.

The statement says the complainant reported that her daughter, Osato Festus Edogiaweria, had left home on April 20, 2025, with a friend and had not been heard from since.

It says “The case was transferred to the State Criminal Investigations Department for further investigation,” adding that

“Demonstrating the Command’s resolve to rid the state of all forms of crime and criminality, operatives of the Family Unit, through painstaking investigation and technical intelligence, arrested one Joshua Osaigbovo, 31 years, a resident of Iyanomon community in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area, in connection with the crime on June 18, 2025.”

It added that “During interrogation, the suspect confessed to having invited the said Osato Festus (now deceased) to his residence on 27th April 2025, and in the course of their stay, had an altercation that led to a fight where the deceased fell, hit her head on the ground, and died.”

“He further confessed that he took the dead body of the lady in a wheelbarrow to a bush nearby, dug and buried her in a shallow grave a few meters away from his residence.”

It said: “The suspect on 20th June 2025, led operatives of the Command to the shallow grave at the Iyanomon community, where the remains of the girl were exhumed following all necessary procedures.”

According to the statement, the deceased’s phone was recovered from the suspect, adding that the suspect would be charged to court as soon as the investigation is concluded.