Iniobong Umoren, a Philosophy graduate of the University of Uyo, left her home for a job interview, so she thought —but was raped and killed by the man who invited her for the job interview.
The sad development was confirmed, Sunday afternoon, by the Police in Akwa Ibom State.
The police spokesperson in the state, Odiko MacDon, identified the suspect as 20-year-old Uduak Frank Akpan.
The suspect, said to be a serial rapist, killed the missing woman and buried her in a shallow grave in his father’s house, after raping her.
“The Akwa Ibom State Police Command has arrested one Uduak Frank Akpan, 20 years old for kidnapping, raping and murdering one Miss Iniobong Umoren.
“On 30/04/2021, the Command received a report on the disappearance of the victim.
“Following available leads, men of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of the Command, led by CSP Inengiye Igose, consolidated on the initial great progress made by the DPO Uruan, SP Samuel Ezeugo and arrested the perpetrator who confessed to have lured his victim to his house in the guise of giving her a job, but ended up sexually and physically assaulting her which led to her death. To cover his tracks, he dragged and buried her in a shallow grave in his father’s compound.
“The deceased has been exhumed and deposited at UUTH for autopsy.
“The suspect confessed to have told his local government chairman of his atrocity before escaping to Calabar and was never at any time handed over to the Police by anyone.
“Suspect is a confessed serial rapist who has owned up to the raping of other victims. He will be charged to court at the conclusion of investigation.
Ms Umoren was last seen on April 29 before she went to honour the appointment for a ‘job interview’
She was screaming for help on the phone, said one of her friends who established contact with her on the day she went missing.
“She sent me a 1sec audio record on WhatsApp and I had to call her back to know if she wanted to say something to me but immediately I called her I heard her screaming,” the friend, Uduak Umoh, tweeted.
Concerned Nigerians did an amazing job, deploying internet tools to see how they could track the missing woman’s location or uncover the identity and the location of the person she went out to meet.
#FindHinyUmoren trended on Twitter for two days, after Ms Umoren went missing.
The Commissioner of Police in Akwa Ibom State, Amienghene Andrew, commended “the social media family” for their “effort” in the case.
