Police in Kole District are investigating the mysterious death of a businesswoman whose body was found lying at her residence.
The deceased, Slim Eliyas was on Tuesday evening found inside her building by the employees, hours after she was murdered by the suspected killer during day time.
Denis Odyamo, an employee, said the deceased on Tuesday asked them to deliver eggs to shop outlets in Lira City. This was after the employees made sales of 1700 trays of eggs in Aboke and Lira City.
“Yesterday we left her (deceased) at home because we had to bank the money we made from the sales of Sunday and Monday. We left her with one of the workers at home at around 9am on Tuesday morning,” Odyamo told Nile Post on Wednesday morning.
“When we returned in the evening at around 8pm, we found the security lights were off which was unusual. The employee we left her with had served food but he was nowhere to be seen including his belongings,” says Odyamo.
Odyamo said after checking the house including the bedroom, the deceased was found lying inside the house, with her plate of breakfast left at the veranda.
Kole District LC5 Chairperson, Andrew Awany said local authorities were informed, prompting a manhunt for the employee who had vanished from home.
“Together with police we observed there were broken pieces of logs at the scene indicating she could have been beaten. We then started moving with the area LC1 and the police to the homes of the suspect's relatives and indeed we tracked his movements up to Oyam were he was today morning arrested,” Awany said on Wednesday.
North Kyoga Regional Police Spokesperson, SP Patrick Jimmy Okema confirmed the suspect identified as Jaspher Okello, 19, was found in possession of personal belongings of the deceased.
“Fortunately he was today morning apprehended from Minakulu in Oyam District. We managed to recover items including, a TV set, wrist watch, sugar, cooking oil, two bedsheets, and money worth Shs17,450,000 which he had,” says police spokesperson, Okema.
The body of the deceased have since been delivered to Lira Regional Referral mortuary pending postmortem as investigators search for the motives.
Okema said preliminary findings indicate the suspect informed his relatives there were plans to murder the deceased, a day before the incident. Detectives are yet to review the footage from the CCTV camera dismantled by the suspect.
“We want to understand the motive and whether he committed the offense alone. Much as the deceased had four staff, three had moved to Lira City to supply eggs. Why would the relatives wait until now that the woman is dead and start saying they were told of plans to murder the woman?” Okema wondered.