Last week I reported the news of Olamide Elizabeth Adeyooye the missing Nigerian student in America who was also a popular blogger on My Space. And we all prayed that she would be found alive and well. But, unfortunately the latest news on her case is negative. Olamide was found dead in Mississippi. And her body was even burnt. Here is the full report below.
Olamide Adeyooye: Dental records confirm body is ISU student
October 26th, 2005 @ 4:41 PM by News Director
Dental records confirm the body found in Mississippi is that of Olamide Adeyooye. She had been missing since Oct. 13th. The location of her car is unknown. It is also not known at this time who murdered her. Rt.55 in Mississippi goes through Normal, Ill. as well.
JAN DENNIS
Associated Press
NORMAL, Ill. - A body found in a burned-out chicken house in Mississippi is that of missing Illinois State University senior Olamide Adeyooye, who was last seen two weeks ago at a video store, authorities said Wednesday.
Dental records were used to identify the 21-year-old's badly burned body. Authorities did not release a cause of death.
"As far as the cause of death, we believe she was already deceased when the body was dropped off in Newton County (Mississippi)," Newton County Sheriff Jackie Knight said. "We have investigators from Illinois here with us but we believe the actual death took place in Illinois."
Knight said he was not aware of any signs of sexual abuse.
Normal Police Lt. Mark Kotte said authorities were still investigating how Adeyooye, who was last seen Oct. 13 in the central Illinois city where she went to school, ended up in Mississippi. Her car, a green 1996 Toyota Corolla, still was missing Wednesday.
"Bloomington-Normal is a very safe community and this is an incident that is extremely rare," Kotte said. "It is not an incident of somebody going around preying on college students."
Kotte said some people questioned by investigators will be questioned again, although police said none are suspects.
"We still have a list of persons of interest and that hasn't really changed. We still have quite a few people that we need to talk to, and also people now that we will be re-interviewing," Kotte said.
Adeyooye's father, Adiodun Adeyooye, said he wants to see justice.
"I believe Olamide's spirit will find the culprit. Whoever might have killed her, Olamide's spirit will find him out in Jesus' name," he said.
A native of Nigeria who moved to suburban Chicago when she was 8, Adeyooye was last seen at a video store near her off-campus apartment in Normal.
Her body was found Friday in central Mississippi by the owner of the chicken house who was cleaning up after a blaze there four days earlier.
Illinois investigators suspected the body could be that of Adeyooye because physical descriptions matched and the fire occurred just four days after she disappeared. They also said the burned building is about 60 miles from Interstate 55, which also passes through Normal.
Adeyooye was reported missing when she didn't show up for classes and her weekend job as a waitress. Police launched a criminal investigation into her disappearance last week after evidence and interviews led them to suspect foul play.
Adeyooye, who studied laboratory sciences and biology at ISU, was due to graduate from the 20,000-student college in December and planned to return to Chicago to complete her clinical training at a hospital. She grew up in the Chicago suburb of Berkeley.
"As we mourn her passing and try to make sense of what is sometimes unexplainable, I ask everyone in the university community to keep Olamide's family and friends in their thoughts and prayers," ISU president Al Bowman said. "This terrible tragedy will bring with it many emotions: grief, anger, perhaps a sense of helplessness."
Nearly 40 investigators, including the FBI and Illinois State Police, assisted in the search for her. Her family and friends also searched, posting fliers and sending out messages through Web sites and blogs.
After learning of her death, friend Rick Pateraoa, 23, of Schaumburg, said: "You always hear about stuff like that on the news but it never hits close to home. ... It always happens to great people."
Associated Press Writer Holbrook Mohr in Jackson, Miss., contributed to this report.
This bad news has only worsened the sadness in my heart and soul over the tragedies going on in Nigeria right now. We have been mourning the tragic deaths of the beloved wife of our President, Mrs. Stella Obasanjo who died after surgery in Spain and the 117 people who were killed in the catastrophic Bellview Airlines air disaster last Saturday.
I never thought Olamide would be found dead.
What is America turning into?
An unsafe place for harmless young ladies. Since the beginning of this year, I have read of over four similar cases.
May the soul of our sister Olamide Elizabeth Adeyooye Rest In Peace.
Yet, I wish she could still be found alive and well.
Oh, God! Help us at such a time like this period of our trials for Nigerians at home and abroad.
No comments:
Post a Comment