The manager of the Century Home Hotel in Owehlogbo, Delta State’s Isoko North Local Government Area, has admitted to killing Onoriode Bethel, a 22-year-old point-of-sale operator who went missing in December 2024.
Iboirode, the suspect, acknowledged enticing Bethel into the hotel with the promise of settling a money issue, killing her, and concealing her body in secret within the hotel grounds.
On Tuesday, May 13, 2025, SP Bright Edafe, the spokesperson for the Delta State Police Command, announced the startling development in Delta.
According to Edafe, “the suspect killed Bethel and buried her body on the hotel grounds.”
Edafe claims that after Bethel accused the suspect of stealing N10,000 from her account using a fictitious bank alert, police investigations showed that the suspect killed her in retaliation.
He supposedly believed that the incident had damaged his reputation, even though she was able to retrieve the money.
In addition, the suspect’s wife admitted to knowing about the murder and disclosed disturbing information:
“My husband called her into the hotel; she is a friend of his. That day, he called her on the phone and took her into a room. It was around 7 pm one evening. I don’t know how he killed her because I was in our room. It was when he came out around midnight that he told me he had killed her,” she said.
In a further twist, the suspect used Bethel’s mobile phone to contact her father and demand a ransom.
He also accessed her POS device to withdraw money after coercing her for the password before killing her.
“He used her phone to call her father, demanding ransom. He even used her POS to collect the money, extracted the password from the girl before killing her. Her remains have been recovered,” Edafe added.
Bethel had been missing since December 13, 2024.
Her disappearance gained renewed police attention following the March 2025 arrest of Iboirode and other hotel staff over the unrelated murder of a guest, Pastor Sunday Ogofohta.
The Delta State Police Command says the investigation is ongoing and assured that justice will be served.
About The Author
