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The discovery of human body parts believed to be those of the three Takoradi missing girls has dominated headlines since the news broke on Friday, August 2, 2019.
The sighting and exhumation of these bodies follow months of waiting by the girls’ families and Ghanaians in general for their safe return.
Since the news came up on Friday night, there have been a lot of varying reports and angles to the matter and makes it difficult for one to follow.
YEN.com.gh has put together a list of the facts that have been made public since the bodies were found. This should make it easier for one to understand.
1. Players in the operation:
According to the official police statement, the operation to retrieve the human parts was undertaken by the National Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Western regional police command.
2. Where the bodies were retrieved from:
As earlier reported by YEN.com.gh the human parts were retrieved from a septic tank at a house located at Kansawurodo, a suburb of Takoradi.
The said house was the same place was where the main suspect in the kidnapping case, Samuel Udeotuk-Wills, lived before his arrest. He is said to have led the officers to the location.
3. How the bodies were retrieved:
Police officers were dispatched from Accra following a tip and with the help of Western regional police commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Mr Vincent Redeemer, and others they reached the house around 5pm and cordoned off the area.
After entering the room of the suspect, sniffer dogs brought for the operation led the team to the septic tank and they began to empty the full tank at 5:30pm.
After almost three hours, the officers found skeletons suspected to be that of the missing girls which were packed into cartons and taken away from the scene.
4. What happens to the remains:
According to the police the remains have been brought to Accra and they would undergo DNA tests at the Police Forensic Laboratory.
This will help determine which of the parts belong together and even establish whether skeletons were that of the three missing girls.
5. Suspect’s reaction:
According to a report YEN.com.gh sighted on Graphic.com.gh, the suspect, Samuel Udeotuk-Wills, who led the team to the location was made to watch the whole retrieval process at close range.
But he denied any knowledge he still denied any involvement in the murder of the girls, the report said.
6. Reaction of girls’ families:
YEN.com.gh gathers that just after news went around town that police officers had retrieved some bodies from the septic tank, the families headed to the location but found the absence of the team which had left for Accra.
Some are said picked cars to come to Accra. In an official reaction, the families have asked for independent forensic verification of the identities of the human parts found.
According to the spokesperson for the families, Mr Michael Hayford Acquah, “until forensic and DNA investigations establish that the body parts found to be that of theirs, all we know is that our loved ones are still alive.”
7. The kidnappings themselves:
As widely reported, the three girls were all kidnapped around the Takoradi metropolis within a space of four months.
Priscilla Blessing Bentum, 21, a third-year student of the University of Education, Winneba, was kidnapped at Kansawurodo on August 17, 2018. She was followed almost four months later by
Ruth Love Quayson, 18, a senior high school (SHS) graduate, who got abducted at Butumegyabu Junction on December 4, 2018.
A little over two weeks after the second kidnapping, Priscilla Mantebea Koranchie, 15, a student of Sekondi College (SEKCO), was also kidnapped near the Nkroful Junction in Takoradi on December 21, 2018.
