The body of a casual labourer who went missing in April in Jinja city, Uganda, has been found buried in the home of former education officer Amina Mutesi.

The woman, identified as Jessica Mutesi, was reported missing, with the family stating that her abductors were demanding a ransom for her release.

Police officers in Jinja launched an investigation following the report and eventually arrested two suspects, who claimed Jessica was murdered at Amina Mutesi's home in a ritual sacrifice.

The officers claimed that Amina had offered a man from Njeru in Buikwe District UGX 3 million (KSh 106,792) to help her obtain a human being for an alleged ritual sacrifice.

The man, agreeing to the plan, recruited a colleague to assist, and that is how they found Jessica, who was from Kikaramoja Village in Walukuba East, Jinja City.

The suspects sent the unsuspecting woman money for transport to facilitate their meeting. Upon arrival, she was allegedly taken to Amina, who gave her a room in the servants' quarters.

"She shared the room with the two men and spent the night there, before allegedly being strangled to death and buried within the home premises the following night," said James Mubi, spokesperson for the Kiira Police Region, in a statement to Daily Monitor.

After the murder, the former education officer allegedly paid the two men only half the agreed amount, leaving them demanding the balance in vain.

Following their arrest, the two men confessed to everything that had transpired, directly implicating Amina in the murder of Jessica.

Detectives promptly obtained a court order permitting the exhumation of the body from Amina’s home on Wednesday, June 4.

"It has been confirmed that the remains of Jessica Mutesi have been exhumed and taken to the city mortuary in Kampala for DNA forensic analysis," Mubi stated.

According to Basonga Baino (BABA FM), a local radio station, the exhumation was carried out in a joint operation led by the Kiira regional CID Officer, Milton Birungi, a doctor from the police headquarters in Naguru, and the police spokespersons for the Kiira and Ssezibwa regions.

Others were Hellen Butoto, the OCs CID for CPS Jinja and CPS Njeru, as well as the flying squad.

Investigations revealed that Jessica was killed and buried behind Amina’s house, in a coffee garden.

In other news, reported that an M-Pesa attendant in Nakuru who had been missing for eight days was found dead.

Hannah Waithera’s lifeless body was discovered at a mortuary in Nakuru on May 28, leaving her family in deep pain.

Waithera had disappeared shortly after her employer sent her to deposit Ksh 250,000 into his bank account.

Her family said they were informed that her body had been found in a water trough at Technology Farm, within the Rift Valley National Polytechnic, before being moved to the mortuary.

Source: TUKO.co.ke