(2) Found in a Plastic Bag—But her head was never found
When a beautiful mother of two disappears from the neighborhood, you would think people couldn’t help but take pause. Especially when she had recently moved to the lovely country of Ireland from London. It wasn’t until two weeks later two jogs found something traumatizing in a black trash bag on their trail. What would you do if you made such a discovery?
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Transcript Below!
Alfred: Hi, I'm Alfred!
Novis: Hello, I'm Novis!
Moss: Hi, I'm Moss!
Novis: And this is the Morning shift.
[Intro Music Start]
Novis: Have for you today is the story of a mother who frequently, I would say perused the nightlife, the outside, and.
One day she didn't come back, there's a couple of different internet theories about what happened to her or what happened to the people around her.
But I'm here for the facts first.
on Thursday, July 8th, 2004. Paiche Onyemaechi left her home, leaving behind her husband Chica and their two sons. She was seen around 5:00 PM that same day, shopping around, but then was never seen alive again.
Unfortunately, we don't know much about the first 20 years my victim, but here's what we do know.
She came from a kind of large country in South east, eastern Africa called Malawi, which is ruled under a unitary presidential republic.
So it's not too different from what we already know. In 1999, its Chief Justice was named Leonard Unyolo, then he had one child Paiche.
She was a little girl with big dreams. Her father said her ambitions were larger than life and she grew into an even more ambitious young woman.
At 20 years old, she took just herself packed up and left Malawi to study business administration in London, England.
And it's here that she met her husband, a charming Nigerian man named Chica Onyemaechi.
Together, they applied for and were granted asylum and they moved to Ireland, where they settled in Limerick.
When they first arrived, they couldn't quite get their footing in Limerick.
So instead of suffering when they didn't have to, they packed up again and moved to a different part of, Ireland, Waterford in 2000.
Moss: So, let me get this straight. Lemme ask you this. So she came from South Africa?
Novis: Correct.
Moss: She was born there? And her husband came from Nigeria? Or was he just...?
Novis: She had two husbands, but the only thing we know about the first...
Moss: Oh!
Novis: Is that he was also Nigerian. She had a type. God forbid, a girl have a type!
Novis: With her first husband. She went to London. It's at this point... she met her second husband, Chika, and that's when they moved to Ireland.
Moss: So we don't know anything about the first?
Novis: Father won't talk about him, and as you'll find out later, her husband can't.
Moss: Interesting...
Novis: So yeah. You'll also... I'm leaving the dates out here. Because this all happened in the span of two years. In 2000, she went to London by herself. She met and married her first husband in 2000, separated from him.
Moss: Okay, got it.
Novis: Met and married her second husband in 2001. By 2002 they were in in Ireland. Mm-hmm.
Alfred: Cool. Cool.
Moss: This paints a picture for me.
Novis: So Waterford is where they ended up taking their roots building their family. So before I get into their disappearance...I think now is the perfect time to introduce the law enforcement system that's used in Ireland. So there, the National police force is referred to as An Garda Síochána. A single guard is called a Garda while multiple officers are called Gardi and by definition, An Garda Síochána means "guardians of the peace".
So they're largely unarmed and very very effective because of how present they are in their different communities.
So you'll hear me say that people are taken or reported to Garda stations because this is where those officers were operating.
In order to call them more powerful enforcement with weapons, they have to wait for the weapons to arrive.
No one patrols just with like firearms.
Novis: So July 10th 2004 Paiche is reported missing by her husband at the Waterford Garden Station. He reports that he'd last seen her when she left her home July 8th. When the Garda there asked him, "why did you wait two days to report your wife being missing? Chika reports that this wasn't that Paiche had gone missing... but this was the first time that she'd not come back. Since they moved to Ireland least two different times, Paiche had gone missing one maybe two days, but she always ended up at home, So he didn't worry about it.
Moss: Do we know where she went?
Novis: It is rumored... not confirmed but it is rumored that Paiche was a Sex worker She worked at different dancing clubs, and the assumption there is that she was taking clients to and from different places as an escort during that time. This isn't anything new. He said she does this sometimes, but she always comes back. "But now I'm worried...It's been two days and I haven't heard from her at all." At this point it's morning of the third day that he's reporting this to the Garda station.
Alfred: Submission.
Moss: So, how long does she leave for?
Novis: One to two days at most. But usually by the second day... it's only happened twice. So last time, by the second day she came home.
Moss: Okay Gotcha
Novis: The Garda immediately sprung into action they increased their numbers and their neighborhood. They posted her photos everywhere. And that's when they found out, that around five pm she'd been seen in Pickardstown. And that's not too unusual because Pickardstown's only about 5 miles or 7.5 kilometers away from Waterford. In the Garda's point of view, she's close. She's not home yet. And when they reported this information to Chika he didn't indicate that anything was amiss with that information. So they're still searching, but the Guard presence decreases just a little.
Novis: So maybe instead of 3 or 4 patrols we are down to 2 or 3...
Moss: Okay. Somebody had reported, they spotted her in that general area, and the police officers are like, "Hey, we found your wife in this area, or at least somebody did", and they just sort of stopped looking after that?
Novis: The general consensus is the search stopped being as intense, they complete stopped looking but the search stopped being as intense. Once they reported, "Hey, we saw her in Pickardstown, do you know why she would be there?" And he was like, "oh, okay. Pickardstown" and they're like, "well, Pickardsown." So no one's too concerned because at this point they're still operating under. "She disappears sometimes, but she'll come back." At this point they have two sons, two or three years old. Um, they're like, "she'll come back", so no one's worried.
Moss: Right okay.
Novis: However, now two weeks are going by. We are all the way at the end of July. It's July 23rd and 20 miles away from Waterford, they find a mysterious black trash bag leaning up against a tree by a river.
Moss: Oh no... No...
Novis: Two women on their walk discover this bag and something in them. I guess their inquisitive spirits tells them to at least inspect the bag before they pass by it. Inside they find the badly beaten and decapitated body of Paiche Onyemaechi, who at that point had been decomposing the entire time.
Moss: So wait, wait. So they found her decapitated?
Novis: Yes
Moss: Was her head in the bag?
Novis: It was not, and as a matter of fact, her head was never discovered.
Moss: Okay?! so this day we have no idea where her head is.
Alfred: That's terrible
Novis: No
Novis: Which of course they were like, "that's really strange because, okay, sure, some monster killed this innocent woman, but also some monster killed this innocent woman in a very brutal way. She was very badly bruised. And they took her head.
Moss: So they found her badly bruised. Could you really tell how fresh the bruising was?
Novis: the consensus according to the Gardai, they didn't go too deeply into it...but the consensus is they believe that she had been dead for at least week and at that point, she still had skin to have bruising on
Moss: That was my main concern.
Novis: And it seemed as though she were beat to death. There were no stabs or anything like that
Moss: So that was the cause of death.
Novis: The head being removed was not what killed her. That was done after the fact.
Novis: So now the Gardai are in full force again. They sweep the neighborhood again, and of course the first person that they interview is her husband. After his interview.
Moss: Of course.
Alfred: Mm-hmm
Novis: He was released. About a week or so, four or five days- their family home was searched and all of the people that she knew in life were interviewed. But the Gardai was getting nowhere.
Novis: Ireland sorely hosted her funeral on the 30th of July St. Otter's Cemetery.
You'll notice that I say
Moss: It took them a week after his interview...
Moss & Novis: to search the house?/To even search the house.
Noviss: Correct
Moss: why wouldn't they search it ahead of time? Considering they know that she's dead already and her head is missing? It doesn't make sense.
Alfred: Yeah, exactly.
Novis: It doesn't and no one ever asked that question. Not even her father who you'll remember is in law enforcement. So. It's a little shakey, but you'll notice also that I said, Ireland, the country itself is who hosted her funeral.
Moss: Yeah, I was thinking that, why not the husband?
Alfred: right?
Novis: after he was released, Um, on the 23rd, he disappeared. He was last spotted on July 27th. He disappeared. He left. He didn't take anything. He's just gone.
Moss: Huh?
But there were no clothes missing. The house was in a state. but they attributed that state to him having to care for his son full-time for the first time and they were only about 2 or 3 years old. So it didn't look like-
Moss: Right. So he disappeared, but where were the children?
Novis: Still at the home. [00:14:00] Like he "disappeared" disappeared.
Moss: Okay.
Alfred: Wow
Novis: The children were home by themselves and then the Garda searched the home.
Novis: So that's, honestly, it's my assumption. They contacted him post-interview to ask if they could search his home. They didn't get an answer, and that's why they ended up going anyway.
Moss: So how long had he been missing at this point? Up until the search.
Novis: About two days, they said about five days after his initial interview is when they searched the home and they discovered that he hadn't been seen since the 27th when they searched.
Moss: So his children were home alone for two days?
Novis: by themselves.
Moss: okay? Nobody was watching them at all. There was nobody else in the home. No grandparents, no friend. Neighbor?
Novis: All of their family still lived in Malawi.
Novis: so it was just.
Moss: okay.
Alfred: Okay
Novis: I, it's, once again, it's not explicitly stated, but I believe that their neighbors are the ones who said, "oh yeah, the last time we saw him was the 27th." Because there was no one else at home. The House was a wreck but like, not a break-in wreck, just generally messy. So they were there by themselves. At this point, in 2025 they are concerned about him because of the way he left. The way that he disappeared was very alarming for them. Especially, considering that was the exact same way it happened for Paiche.
Moss: How is it similar?
Novis: But we couldn't ask him either.
Novis: The assumption the are operating under is: one person leaves home, her husband worried sick about her, leaves home, never comes back. His wallet wasn't at home. He thinks "oh yeah, what's in my pockets, I'm good to go." None of that was at home, No house keys, No wallet, No ID but also no flights, no money spent on any debit cards. Nothing. No-No withdrawals on any bank account.
Novis: He's just gone.
Alfred: Vanished from Thin air...
Moss: That's what it sounds like.
Novis: So Gardai, they're very, very interested in talking to him. But at this point they're worried for him as well.
Paiche's service was attended by her remaining family members, so her brother, father, and sister-in-law, flew in from Malawi.
And it was at this point that her two sons were placed in her father's custody, and then over 100 other people from Waterford, including the African and Nigerian communities, also attended her funeral. And her brother Leon spoke highly of his sister, mentioning how lovely she was and how great she was to talk to and how great of a friend she was. After this funeral, it's as if there was fresh fire under the Gardai.
And they followed multiple leads for her disappearance and eventual death. None of them actually ended up coming to fruition though. So, it's at this point where, us armchair detectives have to spring into action.
Novis: because there are several prominent theories, including her husband as the reason for her undoing. So when the Gardai searched their home, I told you the house was kind of a mess. It was, you know, a little messy between the father taking care of his children for the first time and the children being left alone. The house ended up in disarray.
Novis: But also they found areas of carpet that were ripped up. So there's areas in this house where there's carpet missing and of course they can't ask the two and three year olds what happened. So they just filed this away. Okay more stuff to investigate. Gotcha. Um. It's at this point when they do their second round of investigation that they find out that Paiche used to work at strip clubs. This is another theory that is actually very heavily explored.
Alfred: Mm-hmm
Novis: Specifically in Ireland. According to the Sex Workers Alliance of Ireland, who called himself SUA the Guard, they didn't do as much as they could have during their investigation because When Paiche and Chika first came to Ireland, they did live in Limerick and it's there. That Paiche began working at a strip club. Her work transformed, and that's where she ended up being a sex worker. When she first moved to Ireland. She was just dancer, but one thing led to another and she ended up being a sex, and they believed that her status as a sex worker directly contributed to the lack of justice that was sought during her investigation. And it was at this point that the Sex Workers Alliance of Ireland actually came up with their own flyer it's mentioned that Paiche also may have gone by the names "Gina" or "Cassandra Willis"
Moss: Well, I mean, that's not unusual for a sex worker typically.
Novis: But they're sort of upset because it took them coming out with that information for it to be known. Because maybe someone had seen Paiche within those two weeks between her going missing and ending up dead but they didn't know because of her name.
Novis: So, it's there. Let's say they're 2 cents, but it's their 2 cents that little more could have been done by the Gardai station. Um, another lesser of theory. Of course, the main theory is of course, the husband. the, the theory of the husband heavily rooted in stereotype.
Moss: What do you mean by that?
Novis: when it comes to
Alfred: It is like the husband always did it?
Novis: that mixed with the fact that he was Nigerian.
Alfred: Racism. Always comes back to it.
Novis: the theory is that, the sex work at some point he just, he didn't like it anymore, or he just came to the conclusion that that was unfitting for a wife of his, and he just killed her for it.
Moss: Okay
And then once he was about to get caught, he went missing. That's his theory. There's not a lot on his theory. The only sources of that theory were. Untrustworthy at best.
Moss: So did we ever find him?
Novis: In 20 years. He is still missing. Um,
Moss: So, okay, what about, what about them checking these strip clubs? Did they actually go there, talk to club owners, talk to other dancers, or to other sex workers?
Novis: According to the Sex Workers Alliance of Ireland, there was little to no police presence in strip clubs for paiche and that's a source of their ire because they believe that if they looked at her place of employment first, especially with at least one person saying she did, escort work that would've been sort of a nail on the head for the Gardai. It doesn't appear as though it was investigated as thoroughly as it could have been.
Novis: There's one final theory as to what actually happened to the husband. So you'll remember Paiche's father was the justice of Malawi. The theory is that... Paiche's father didn't like the course of Paiche's life, and especially with his daughter ending, his only daughter ending up going missing, and then ending up dead. The theory is that he then made Chika go missing.
Moss: That does make sense.
Novis: This theory is more rooted in what isn't said than what is. So outwardly, there's no malice. There's no upset. He's being the perfect, grieving father.
Novis: but the internet, you know. Everyone's saying he has the money. He has the power. His daughter's gone missing. There's pieces of carpet missing from the home and now he's grandson's have been left alone but they were found two days later.
Moss: Okay
Novis: So the theory is that with such a influential father, how does Paiche go missing? Without any more information than what I just gave the you. Nothing But "she was a great kid with big ambitions. She moved to London alone and within two, years of moving to London. She moves to a totally different country within four years of leaving Malawi, she's dead. maybe what lobby she stay. So, the theory is that her father was like, "oh no, this won't do." And the father took out his anger or took out his grieve on Paiche's husband and that's why he can't be found.
I believe this theory is why the Gardai are more concerned about him rather than treating him as a runaway Murderer.
Novis: In 2024. July of 2024, The Gardai reopened her case. So 20 whole years straight. Two decades after she'd gone missing, they reopened her case and a fresh appeal is being made for who knows anything about Paiche or "Gina Willis" or Cassandra Willis" who may or may not had been a sex worker in 2004. At this point also, if they know anything about her husband, Chika.
So if anyone knows anything or they think of anything, heard anything, any information at all about those four names. They would like any interested party. It can be an anonymous tip or you can name yourself.
They would like them to reach out to the TraMore, Gardai station, or any Gardai station in the area.
There is also a confidential line that we can drop in the show notes. But that's, as of right now that all we have.
There's been no new evidence uncovered since July last year.
Novis: They're reexamining old evidence, but obviously it's 20 years. They can't look at the home anymore.
That area is sort of a memorial now, unofficially some. Neighbors planted flowers. There's a bench there, but there was nothing done by the city itself.
So it's a little harder now than it was then. But that's where her story ends. Her father has her children back in Malawi.
Moss: Okay. So they moved in with their grandpa, which does make sense.
That's so, that's so sad. That's all the information that we have.
Novis: That's it. From every source. I followed the Irish times, which is their official newspaper. SHe was in the newspaper for weeks when she disappeared. When they reopened the case, she was in the news for about 3 or 4 days.
Not a lot has been found about her, which. The Sex Workers Alliance of Ireland says didn't have to be the case.
And they whole heartedly believe she wasn't as investigated as thoroughly as she should have been. Because of her status as a sex worker.
Moss: Okay, we should put, uh, information about their own investigation also in the show notes, maybe their website so people can look into them as well and get to know their information.
Novis: They were actually in the Waterford news, um, which is the localized newspaper. Um, but yes, they reached out to the Garda as well. Of course exactly have a statement for them, but they're also investigating her disappearance.
Moss: Thank you so much for sharing this story today. Appreciate you.
Novis: And this has been the Mourning Shift.
[Ending Song]
Photos related to crime:
Sources: The Irish Times
Ireland’s National Police and Security Service
https://sexworkersallianceireland.org
Waterford News — victim advocacy group
RTE (Ireland’s National Public Service Media)
Irish Examiner — 4 years living in ireland
If you were in Ireland or lived in ireland during 2002 please come forwardAnyone with information can contact Kilkenny Garda Station on 056 77 75000, or Crimestoppers on 1800 250 025.
