Jude Chinedu, Enugu
As far as mysterious death is concerned, this one appears to be in a class of its own. A man and his entire family, his wife and four children, one son and three daughters, went to bed the previous night. With no sign of sickness. And, no report of illness. Completely healthy. But by the following morning, they had become corpses. Stone dead! All, except one who was eventually revived.
To what do you ascribe that kind of death? Some people believe that it has something to do with food poisoning. Others think it might not be so as the family dog who supposedly partook in the food of death is alive and well. Some think that the mysterious deaths might be connected to the family’s inauspicious inhalation of carbon monoxide fumes emitted by their domestic generator. But first callers to the place said that the so-called causer-generator was silent and as dead as a doornail by the time they broke into the house and found their corpses lying in grotesque positions. As you read this, the police have commenced investigation into the true cause of the deaths.
Discovery of the strange deaths
That is the story of Mr. Chukwumalu Onyekwe who went to bed on Monday, April 27, 2020, with his wife and four children, at his Amaokpo Nike residence in Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu State. Like every other person that went to bed that very night, he must had hoped to wake up the following day to attend to the day’s obligations. But, alas, it was not to be as nobody saw him nor set their eyes on any member of his family outside their residence the following day.
It was not until Wednesday morning, April 29, that some neighbours remembered that neither he nor any member of his family had been seen outside the previous day. Which was very, very unusual. Apprehensive of what might have happened to them, they started making frantic phone calls to Chukwumalu’s line.
Though the calls went through, they remained unanswered while they lasted. Given the worrisome situation, the concerned neighbours had no other choice than to force open the door. They were shocked to find Onyekwe, his wife and his children dead. In fact, their bodies were said to be in their early stage of decomposition. Those who saw them said he (Chukwumalu) was seen with his arms holding and around some members of his family as if trying to save them from the fate that eventually befell them. This sight had even helped to deepen the mystery surrounding their deaths.
Relative recalls last encounter with them
Onyekwe who hailed from Eziowelle in Idemili Local Government Area of Anambra State, was a popular building contractor, especially around that vicinity. But when Saturday Sun visited his residence, only a young female relation of his wife, late Mrs. Chinaza Onyekwe, was seen cleaning up the residence and washing the place with disinfectant to kill the stench left by the decomposing bodies of her relatives.
Initially, she refused to talk, insisting that she is not the one in the best position to give our reporter the information he was looking for. But after much persuasion, she agreed to do so on the grounds that her name should not appear in print. In a brief chat, she lamented that her elder sister and her children would have been alive if they insisted on staying one more night when she visited their family house that week. But as things turned out, she followed her husband back to their residence that fateful night, and the rest, as they say, is now history.
According to her, the pregnant woman and mother of four visited her family house with her children on Sunday and even passed the night there. But late on that Monday, her husband came looking for them. She said Chukwumalu initially wanted to allow them to spend one more night but later changed his mind.
“She is my elder sister,” she said while trying to explain the relationship between her and the dead woman. “They came to our house on Sunday and passed the night. On that Monday, her husband called her to come to where he usually waits to pick them so they could start going home. My sister who was busy making her hair at that time pleaded for more time. When we accompanied her to where her husband was waiting for her and her children, he told her to stay back so we can finish with doing her hair. Initially, he said they could wait and return home the following day when she was done, but he later changed his mind and asked her to enter the car.
“He said he was going to work on Tuesday and his wife might fail to come home early enough before he leaves. My sister was already happy that she was permitted to finish plaiting her hair. If she and her children had come down from that vehicle, they wouldn’t have been victims and the family would have been safe. They are six in the family but my sister is pregnant.”
She said that their 10-year-old son, Arinze Onyekwe, was discovered to be alive when officials of the state Ministry of Health came to take the bodies away to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH). A family source said that the boy who was the only survivor holds the key to unlocking the mystery behind his parents’ and siblings’ death.
“He is recovering at UNTH,” she said. “Nobody knows what happened. I can’t say it’s what they ate because their dog is alive. Their dog eats whatever they cook here. Their generating set wasn’t on and even when they put it on, they’d always turn it off before going to bed.”
Police speaks on the matter
Speaking on the matter, the Enugu State Police Command said that it has launched an enquiry into the cause of their mysterious death. Its spokesman, Mr. Daniel Ndukwe, reports that their knowledge of the incident which took place in City Estate Layout, Amokpo-Nike near Enugu, came about, on Wednesday morning, through a complaint received on April 29 at about 1400hrs at Unity Police Station talking about an alleged sudden and unnatural death of a family of six.
“The operatives of the station, led by its Divisional Police Officer, SP Siga Malgwi, immediately moved to the location where they sighted the bodies lying lifeless in a room,” he said. “The building was cordoned off while Enugu East Local Government health authorities were contacted for examination and evacuation of the bodies.
“However, in the course of disinfecting the building before the evacuation, the only surviving son of the family, Arinze Onyekwe, was found to be in coma. He was immediately rushed to hospital where he is said to be recovering.”
He added that other members of the family whose bodies had been evacuated to the hospital for autopsy include: Dominic Onyekwe (husband); Chinaza Onyekwe (wife, she is suspected to be pregnant), Chioma, Oluebube and Blessing, their daughters.
Health officers, others react
South East Zonal Commander of the United Nations Rescue Team, Mr. Emmanuel Okoye who spoke to newsmen at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu, where bodies of the deceased were kept, said they rushed to the scene of the tragedy as soon as they got the information. He said they helped to take the bodies to the mortuary.
Reacting to the incident, Chairman of Enugu East Local Government Area, Mr. Alex Ugwu, who visited the scene of the incident, said that the late Dominic Chukwumalu Onyekwe was a good person and wondered how he could die in that manner.
Although his sister-in-law had earlier expressed her doubts on that, he suspected their death to be due to “possible food poisoning” since there was no generator to suggest that it could be as a result of fumes from the exhaust. “When I heard about the incident, I alerted the police and the Ministry of Health to take charge,” he said. “It was when the officials of the Ministry of Health were trying to evacuate the bodies that one of the man’s children sneezed and was discovered to be alive. And, that was when he was rushed to hospital.”
At the moment, the cause of their tragic deaths is still wrapped in mystery. But people believe that autopsy and Arinze, their son who cheated death may eventually help to provide the answer that will unlock the mystery.