A tragic incident unfolded on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, in Lusaka, Zambia, where a 44-year-old former bank employee named Mike Ilishebo took his own life after reportedly killing his 35-year-old wife, Valerie Franco, at their residence in the Meanwood Ndeke Phase One area.
According to Police Public Relations officer Rae Hamoonga, Ilishebo allegedly strangled Valerie with an electric power adapter cable and inflicted a fatal stab wound to her stomach using a knife. The motive behind this horrific act appears to be a prolonged marital dispute between the couple, who had an eight-month-old child together.
In a statement issued on Friday, Hamoonga confirmed the distressing incident, stating that upon receiving a report from Alice Mapulanga, aged 38, officers from the Chelston Police Station, through the Ndeke-vorna Police Post, promptly responded to the scene. There, they found Valerie’s lifeless body in the bedroom, with a knife lodged in her abdomen, while Ilishebo was discovered deceased in the sitting room, with a black substance emanating from his mouth.
It is alleged that Ilishebo first strangled Valerie with the cable and then stabbed her before taking a poisonous substance, leading to his own demise. The bodies were subsequently transported to the University Teaching Hospital mortuary for further examination.
