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Man identified after four months in the morgue

joyetter@samoanews.com

Apia, SAMOA — The body of a man that was found floating lifeless in Faleula four months ago has been identified as Fa’aaliga Onofia Seumanutafa, 46 years old of Matautu-Uta. This is according to Samoa’s Police Spokesperson Su’a LeMamea Tiumalu Wednesday in a phone interview with Samoa News.

At the time the body was found his facial area was already decomposed and they were unable to identify him and the police reached to the neighboring islands after two weeks and no one came forward to claim the body. Su’a said they also reached out to fishermen to see if anyone knew of this man, and again no one came forward.

According to Su’a when the police arrived at the scene, they discovered he had a tattoo on his left arm with a flower and the word “warrior.” At the time he was first found, Su’a said the man had bruises and injuries on his chest, but they couldn’t attribute this to cause of death, as the man was found floating in the ocean.

He told Samoa News over the phone that the body was identified by the man’s sister who confirmed the tattoo on his arm with the word Warrior below the tattoo. According to Su’a the sister explained that the deceased worked on fishing boats in American Samoa and has been away from their family for long periods of time. The sister also informed the police that her deceased brother loves to fish and when upon his return they noticed a change in his behavior as if he had mental issues. Su’a said that in the meantime a report has been prepared and will be handed over for the coroner at the District Court as well as the autopsy report, which has already been compiled.

In other police news, Su’a stated that it’s been a peaceful Christmas week and ever since their annual police camp started the police have managed to crack down on some drunk drivers but not as many compared to last year.

While Su’a did not have the data on hand he noted that there haven’t been that many traffic accidents for the Christmas week. “However as we head into the New Year weekend I hope I can say the same as we want this holidays to be peaceful,” he said.