The manager of Century Home Hotel in Owehlogbo, Isoko North Local Government Area of Delta State, has confessed to the murder of 22-year-old Point-of-Sale operator Onoriode Bethel, who was declared missing in December 2024. The suspect, identified as Iboirode, admitted to luring Bethel to the hotel under the guise of resolving a financial dispute, only to take her life and bury her body on the hotel premises.
Delta State Police Command spokesperson, SP Bright Edafe, confirmed this shocking revelation on Tuesday, May 13, 2025.
‘The suspect murdered Bethel and buried her body on the hotel property,’ Edafe stated. Investigations indicated that the murder was an act of revenge after Bethel accused Iboirode of defrauding her of N10,000 using a fraudulent bank alert.
He felt his reputation had suffered irreversible damage, even though he had successfully recovered the funds. In a surprising turn of events, the suspect’s wife admitted to knowing about the crime, recounting the traumatic events: ‘My husband had invited her to the hotel; she was a friend of his. That night, he called her and led her to a room. I was in our room and didn’t see the murder happen. He only confessed to killing her when he came back around midnight,’ she shared. In a subsequent turn of events, Iboirode used Bethel’s phone to contact her father, insisting on a ransom, and gained access to her POS device to extract funds after coercing her into disclosing the password, ultimately leading to her tragic demise.
‘He used her phone to contact her father regarding the ransom and had also accessed her POS to withdraw funds after obtaining her password from her before killing her. Her remains have since been found,’ Edafe stated. Bethel had been missing since December 13, 2024. Her disappearance gathered attention from the police after Iboirode and some hotel staff were arrested in March 2025 for the unrelated murder of a guest, Pastor Sunday Ogofohta.
The Delta State Police Command says that the investigation is ongoing and assured that justice will be delivered.
Late Onoriode Bethel
