A 40-year-old husband in Dedza district has been held a suspect into the murder case of his 35-year-old wife who was reportedly missing last week and only to be recovered dead.

Dedza police deputy spokesperson, Cassim Manda has identified the suspect as Aloni Chitala and the deceased wife as Losida Nyadani.

According to reports, the deceased had been planning to run away from his abusive husband but her relatives encouraged her to stay.

Just last week, the deceased was reported missing and her body was found on Tuesday by people.

Police visited the scene and took the body for a postmortem which revealed the death was due to severe head injuries hence the arrest of the husband as a suspect.

Meanwhile, police are still continuing with an investigation into the matter as the husband is in custody.

Chitala hails from Mwangala village, Traditional Authority Kaphuka while the deceased hailed from Njerema village in the Dedza.