A 16-day search for Melisa Aneza, a student of Naalya SS Lugazi Campus, has come to an end after DNA tests confirmed that a body buried in the Kayunga public cemetery was hers.
Kampala Metropolitan Police (KMP) spokesperson, Rachael Kawala, said forensic tests conducted on samples taken from Aneza’s parents positively matched those retrieved from the exhumed body.
“Because of the advanced state of decomposition, the hospital mortuary attendants buried the body in the public cemetery. Police sought and obtained a court order to exhume it. Samples were taken from the exhumed body and the parents, and the forensic examination at Naguru turned out positive. It has now been handed over to the family to proceed with the burial,” Kawala said.
Aneza was reported missing on November 6 by her parents, Sarah Kamugambe and Martin Massa. Earlier that day, Massa had called home asking Kamugambe to remind their daughter to prepare for her return to school after a suspension.
But Kamugambe told him the teenager had already left, saying her father had summoned her to his office so they could go to school together, something Massa had not done. Aneza never made it to school.
Four days later, residents discovered a decomposing body dumped in Musaale swamp, Naggalama, Mukono district. Police retrieved the remains and handed them over to mortuary staff at Kayunga hospital.
Massa said that when they went to Naggalama police after hearing of the discovery, they were informed that the girl was dressed in a school uniform skirt labelled “Nanyonga V.H.”
They were shown photographs along with the skirt recovered from the body. By that time, the body had already been buried due to its advanced state of decomposition. The parents later established through relatives and their daughter’s peers that “Nanyonga” was a close friend of Aneza, from whom she had borrowed the skirt.
“We were convinced that the body in the cemetery was our daughter. Police told us they needed DNA proof, and we obliged,” Massa said.
Police have since opened a murder investigation into the death of Aneza. Kawala said detectives are now working to establish who was involved and the circumstances that led to the teenager’s death. Authorities say more details will be released once significant progress is made.
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