‘I keep imagining how they cried for help and there was none’ – Father of kids stuffed in freezer

The 47-year-old father of the three children stuffed in a deep freezer, Ejezie Udochukwu, has lamented that he still continues to have nightmares of his children calling out to help following their gruesome murd3r by a yet to be identified assailant.

Recall that the sad incident happened in Nnewichi, Nnewi North Local Government Area of Anambra State on February 1, 2025.

Ejezie who hails from Umuokanam Umucheke, Umueze-Uga in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State told the Punch in an interview that he works in Edo State, while his wife and children live in Nnewi, Anambra State.

He recalled that when his wife, a fellow nurse, returned from an official assignment on the fateful day, she expected her children to come and greet her with a hug as usual, but she did not hear any voices or see any of them.

“She went to the kitchen to check if the food she had left for them had been eaten, but the food was still there. She began wondering where the children had gone” he said.

He said his first daughter was an altar server, and every Saturday, she went for rehearsals, while his second daughter attended catechism for her first holy communion.

He said the youngest one usually followed them because he could not be left alone at home.

He said his wife, not suspecting any foul play, decided to eat as she had not eaten all day.

According to him, the wife thereafter went to their church to check for the children. He said he even told her that if she found them, she should discipline them, not knowing they had already been killed and stuffed inside the freezer.

“My first daughter, Chikaima, was nine years old; Chimdirim David, my son, was five; and Chimziterem Dominica, my second daughter, was eight years old. They were the only ones at home when the incident occurred” he said.

Ejezie said they had lived in a two-room apartment behind the main building in the compound for five years without any major bad incident.

He added that there were two separate one-room apartments occupied by medical students. He said his was the only family living in the compound, along with two medical students.

Ejezie said they searched for the children from 5 pm till about 8 pm.

“At that point, my wife became anxious, and it dawned on us that something was wrong. We assumed they had gone to visit someone and there was no adult to bring them back.

I told my wife that we should make an announcement. I went to my Facebook page to post their pictures, but when I tried to type a message, the pictures disappeared. Some of my Facebook friends, who had seen the pictures, mistakenly thought I was celebrating them. I called my wife and asked her to go to the church to make an announcement. When she arrived at the church, the reverend father was there, and he sent a priest to accompany her.

There was no electricity, and even the fridge where the children were kept was not cold as there was no food inside. The medical student entered the house to help search for the children. A few minutes later, my wife, accompanied by the priest, was approaching the house.

When the medical student saw them, he went to my wife and asked, “Do your children usually play in any strange way?”

That question sounded negative to my wife. The priest noticed that the medical student was about to break some bad news to my wife, so he pushed him aside.

The medical student then narrated to the priest what he had seen inside the fridge. Before we knew it, people had started gathering in my apartment to see what had happened” he narrated.

He further recalled that someone held his wife back to prevent her from seeing what was inside the freezer to shield her from the shock.

The bereaved father said some people, including the priest, later calmly broke the news to his wife.

“I called my wife multiple times, but she didn’t answer. When she finally did, I asked her to hand the phone to the medical student because by then, I had started sensing something was terribly wrong.

The medical student asked me if I was alone because there are some things you don’t disclose when someone is by themselves. But I gathered my courage and asked him to tell me what had happened. That was when he broke the news to me.

After hearing the news, I hung up and immediately started calling my brothers, relatives, friends, and in-laws. I also informed my professional group in Edo State about the tragedy. They were the ones who came to be with me so I wouldn’t be alone that night. The next day, I travelled to Anambra State,” he recalled.

He said the children were bigger than the freezer, but they were stuffed into it nonetheless.

He ruled out the possibility of the children climbing into the freezer, saying there was no chair nearby that could have suggested that they climbed inside it by themselves and they were not the type that played hide and seek.

He said the freezer had not been used for a while because of lack of power, adding that he had nothing against the freezer as it was not the cause of his children’s death. He said he would continue to use the freezer.

He further disclosed that there were no visible injuries on the children but they were bleeding from the nose.

He also said he was not told if the bodies were examined for s*xual molestation’

When asked how he felt, he said:

“It is with tears in my eyes that I speak. Every parent understands the pain of losing a child, but losing three at once is unimaginable. It has shattered us. We loved our children dearly.

My first daughter, Chikaima, was exceptionally brilliant. If she were here as I grant this interview, she would be telling countless stories. She was well-known in school for her intelligence—so much so that they called her the ‘Kri Kri Star.’

If you took first place from her in class, you were looking for trouble. My home became a gathering place for children who needed help with their assignments, and Chikaima was always there to guide them” he said.

He said they are left with their first child who is in the seminary school.

Ejezie said he and his wife would visit him on their next visiting day and use the opportunity to break the news to him.

He said he would enlarge their photographs and look at them all the time because they were special gifts to him and he would never forget them.

He said he could only imagine the agony the children must have endured at the hands of their killers.

“I still hear them shouting “Daddy, daddy…mummy, mummy,” but no one came to help. When I look at their pictures, I apologise to them, and I can only imagine how they must have cried for help and struggled to breathe, with no one to come to their aid. It is heart-wrenching.”