Two Missing Toddlers Found Dead in Lagos after 39 Days

Two toddlers aged three years-old who were declared missing on 25th January 2013 have been found dead in an abandoned vehicle on the premises of a building next to theirs on Taike Street, Ketu, Lagos State.

The kids  Toheeb Adedokun and Tajudeen Falilu were suspected to have been kidnapped by their family as well as the Police before the discovery of their remains on Monday.

The vehicle in which they were found in, a Honda Pilot Sports Utility Vehicle was used as collateral for a bank loan. The Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Police Command, Ngozi Braide told Punch that the corpses were discovered by bank officials, who had gone to redeem the vehicle.

“On Monday, at about 4:30pm, one Phillip Odi in company with Julius Odetola, both of whom are employees of Berachah Microfinance Bank, reported that on the same day, they received a text message from Macdonabi Jones Enterprise Limited, a customer of the bank, who pledged his Honda Pilot as collateral. The bank employees said on reaching the house located at 20 Taike Street, where the vehicle was parked, they discovered the corpses of the two children.”

However, according to a police theory, the children went into the vehicle but were trapped inside, causing them to suffocate.

When a Punch correspondent visited the children’s parents, he learnt that the occupants of the house where the corpses were found had fled for fear of being attacked.

A woman in the neighborhood who identified herself as Iya Basira said, “How could two corpses be in a compound for over a month and no one smelt any odour? We looked for these children for weeks and even the occupants of that building were aware that the children were missing.”

The parents of the toddlers and other members of the family said they plan on pursuing the case to a logical conclusion. One of the toddlers, Toheeb’s mother, Adijat, told Punch that the death of the children was controversial because on the day they went missing, the said vehicle was not parked in the compound.

Photo Credit: Punch