Murder Suspect Exhumes Body of Woman Who Went Missing Six Months Ago

A suspect identified as Raurent Nkurunziza on Thursday led police officers to a garden in Katabi Town Council where he admittedly buried the remains of a woman who went missing last December. The woman identified as Prossy Twinomugisha, aged 24years, went missing on December 5th, 2021.

Nkurunziza led over ten police officers attached to Entebbe Police Station to a garden with beans, bananas and sweet potatoes in Nkumba-Bukolwa village on Thursday evening.

He pointed to the spot where he allegedly buried Twinomugisha's remains. At the spot, he indicated where her head and feet were and was handed a hoe to dig out the corpse. After digging for over thirty minutes, he retrieved the body. The body was wrapped up in a sisal bag and then placed in a body bag which police officers took to a waiting police van. 

Dozens of residents and relatives of Twinomugisha gathered around the garden as Nkurunziza dug out the body.

Police  officers had to protect Nkurunziza from angry residents who wanted to lynch him for committing what they called a gruesome crime.

Eric Kamusiime , a resident of Kasokoso, Kireka, says Twinomugisha was his niece. He says learned of  her disappearance on December 7th, 2021. He had however attended a traditional marriage ceremony with her in September, three months before she disappeared. At the time, she was staying with her spouse a one Kenneth Kasagga in Nkumba-Bukolwa village.  

Kamusiime says when he heard that she was missing, he visited Nkumba-Bukolwa village and looked for Kasagga. Kasagga told him he had already reported a case of a missing person at Entebbe Police Station.

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After a month, Kamusiime says he urged police officers attached to Entebbe Police Station to interrogate residents of Nkumba-Bukolwa village. But he was told to be patient because she could have traveled abroad as a migrant worker or had had a misunderstanding with her husband and did not want her whereabouts to be known.

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He criticized police officers at Nkumba police Post and Entebbe Police Station for delaying going to Nkumba-Bukolwa village to look for suspects even if he and Kasagga kept saying Twinomugisha could have been killed since her known phone numbers had been off for months.

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He however received a phone call from police officers on Wednesday who asked him to describe the handbag Twinomugisha was holding on the day of the party and he was told a bag with the same description that had been found in Nkurunziza's house. He was also  informed that Nkurunziza had confessed that he murdered Twinomugisha and buried her in a garden.

One of the residents whose name withheld on request for personal security reasons, says Nkurunziza told him on Sunday that he killed Twinomugisha and had buried her in one of the gardens in Nkumba-Bukolwa village. 

He then called a police officer at Natete Police Station who then made inquiries and Nkurunziza was arrested on Tuesday and in his statement made the confession about Twinomugisha.

This resident says he did not inform police officers at Nkumba and Entebbe because they "did not seem interested in finding out whether or not Twinomugisha was alive and if she was dead, what had happened."

Moses Mugarura, LC 2 chairman of Nkumba Ward is urging residents to introduce newcomers to local leaders for accountability and close monitoring because the suspect is not well known. He also warned residents against lynching Nkurunziza, saying mob justice is Illegal.

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Ssalongo Hood Badru Ntanda and other residents are angry with Nkurunziza. Ntanda  says Nkurunziza is known as Musunda in the village because he has been selling milk and employed as a herdsman at the residence of a resident of the village.

The residents want Nkurunziza hanged.

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Friends of the deceased led by Evas Kiconco Allen Patricia Nabaasa and Getrude Nagginda want justice. Nagginda, who is the Secretary for Women in Nkumba-Bukolwa says men should learn how to handle heartbreaks. 

Kiconco says Twinomugisha was a food vendor in Abaita Ababiri and is survived by one child.  She suspects that Twinomugisha was lured by Nkurunziza who usually supplies two litres of milk to girls for free, in the hope of having affairs with them. 

"He told one of the residents that once he invests in a girl and she rejects him, he kills or harms her and this is why some of us were suspicious of him ever since Prossy went missing," Kiconco says.