Men of the Ogun State Police Command have arrested a 31-year-old indigene of Ebonyi State, Rexlawson Johnson, over the gruesome murder of his 26-year-old girlfriend, Patricia John.
Johnson was said to have sneaked out of the hotel in Ibafo, Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of the state, after he allegedly killed his girlfriend.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, disclosed this in a statement on Monday.
Oyeyemi said the incident occurred last week Friday.
He said the arrest of the suspect followed a report by the manager of the hotel, one Adebayo Aladesuyi.
The PPRO said the manager told the police that the body of an occupant of one of the rooms was discovered while the workers were carrying out routine checks of the hotel rooms.
Oyeyemi stated, “The victim had bruises on her neck, suggesting that the deceased might have been strangled.
“On the strength of the report, the DPO, Ibafo Division CSP Jide Joshua, led his detectives to the scene and recovered the corpse to the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital in Sagamu for post-mortem examination.
“Preliminary investigation later revealed that the deceased checked into the hotel with a man, who sneaked out of the hotel after killing the woman.
“Consequently, the DPO and his men commenced technical and intelligence-based investigation which led to the unravelling of the identity of the suspect.”
The PPRO added that the suspect was subsequently traced and apprehended by detectives.
Oyeyemi said, “On interrogation, he confessed to checking into the hotel with the deceased and that they had a misunderstanding, which led to physical assault between them.
“In the process, he said the woman collapsed and gave up the ghost. He subsequently left the corpse in the room and sneaked out of the hotel.”
The PPRO added that the Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun, had ordered the immediate transfer of the suspect to the homicide section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for further investigation and diligent prosecution.
“He (Ajogun) also appealed to hoteliers in the state to always have proper documentation of their customers in order to assist the police in a situation like this,” Oyeyemi stated.
