Skeleton of missing man found inside his room after 7 months

The skeletal remains of a 46-year-old man, Sikiru Yusuf, who was declared missing by his family about seven-months ago, were discovered in his room at 21, Jaiyesinmi Street, Aga, Ikorodu, Lagos State, when his family members broke the door of the room with the intention of packing his property.

It was gathered that the first alarm on the missing Yusuf was made by his aged landlady who resides at the top floor of the one-storey building, when he was not seen for over four months.


Initially, his neighbours and the landlady did not suspect any foul play because the deceased was said engage in a job that usually took him out of town for two or three months before he would return, so no one raised an eyebrow when he was not seen in the first three months, during which the stench from his decomposing corpse was passed off as a dead rat’s smell.

But when it was five months with no one seeing him, his family members who live at Ikosi in the Ketu area of the state, were notified and they assumed he might have travelled.

But impatient that for seven months, her tenant was no where to be found and wanting to rent out the room to another tenant, the landlady requested that his family should evacuate his belongings from the room.

It was when his brothers went to the apartment and forced the door open that it dawned on them that Yusuf had been long dead as only his skeleton were found.

It was also learnt that the family members and other tenants saw a rope beside the skeleton, giving an indication that the deceased could have committed suicide.

Narrating the incident, one of the landlady’s daughter, Funmi Badewa, said no one suspected that anything was wrong because the deceased was not always around.

“At first, we thought he must have gone for his job, which usually kept him away for two or three months.

But we became worried and contacted his family when we did not see him after some months. We went to his family at Ikosi in Ketu and asked after him. But they too said they have not seen him and that he probably travelled.

When it was seven months, his brother now came and said they would pack his things since no one has seen him. They broke the door and that was when his skeleton was found on the ground. We also saw a rope, which means he might have committed suicide.

There was a time we perceived bad odour, but we thought that a rat might have died somewhere. The smell lasted several days. No one even thought it could be a dead human being.”

The incident was reported at the Ikorodu Police Division and officers from the station has since evacuated the remains.