The Ekiti State Police Command on Wednesday confirmed the killing of a 78-year-old grandmother and widow by persons suspected to be ritual killers in Ikere Ekiti, Ikere Local Government Area.

The command’s Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Sunday Abutu, who confirmed the incident, described it as “unfortunate and mysterious.”

Abutu said the investigation had begun into the case and that the Criminal Investigation Department had been directed to take over the matter.

He added that the corpse of the woman had been recovered and deposited in the morgue of the State Specialist Hospital in Ikere Ekiti.

Sources in the locality had earlier told newsmen that the woman, Mrs Sabianah Aranilewa, was not only killed, but her blood was also drained and vital organs removed by the ritual killers.

Also confirming the reports, the deceased’s son, Mr Eyitope Aranilewa, said his mother had earlier gone missing on Friday, May 29, around 6: 45 a.m while washing clothes at her residence along Moshood road, Odo-Oja area of Ikere-Ekiti.

He said his mother’s friend referred to as Mrs Ojolo first raised the alarm and organised a search party, but efforts to find her proved abortive until 4.00 p.m. when her corpse was found inside a stream with her throat slit and other vital organs removed.

“On that fateful day, I got a distress call that my mother was missing. It was my mother’s friend, Mrs Ojolo who resides within a short distance from her shop that raised the alarm when she did not see her in the shop

“The matter was immediately reported at the police station, but it was not long that information came that her body had been located at a place not far from the home.

“She was slaughtered like a goat and the corpse dumped in a shallow stream, flowing through the back of her home,” he said.