Ghana

QUANSAH
Charles

Active from 1996 – 2000 in Accra

DID YOU KNOW...

Stupid Fact

Quansah was charged with rape in 1987, but claimed he had been jogging and accidentally ran into a woman

Interesting Fact

The country's former president said Quansah was innocent, and that 15 of his political opponents were guilty

THE DISPATCH

The Beginning

It seems that information around the killings by Charles Quansah is steeped in contradictions and possibly even lies by Ghanaian authorities. This includes allegations of severe torture, ministerial visits and more, to obtain the confessions. After an election loss, former President Jerry John Rawlings alleged that Quansah was a scapegoat for the murders and that 15 Cabinet Ministers in the Kufuor administration were behind the deaths. For years, Quansah’s guilt and conviction – and allegations of coverups and lies – were used as political fodder during elections in Ghana.

The information below is based on the best information I have been able to find, but I cannot state with any certainty that it is legally accurate. (e.g. Kufuor And Asante Apeatu Are Hot… (modernghana.com)) I have relied heavily on information provided by Gerry Downes, in a podcast with Jerri Williams. Both are former FBI agents, and Downes participated in the investigation and interviews. As a foreigner, Downes likely has the least politically-influenced recollection of the facts (especially dates), although it still appears to be cloudy.

Authorities in Ghana began investigating the strangulation murders of women – many who were sex workers or vulnerable – in Kumasi, Dansoman, Mataheko and Adenta. Starting in 1993, the murders kept happening right through to 2001, with a total of 34 women possibly attributed to the same murderer. Most women were sexually assaulted, murdered and sexually posed during night.

The Murders

Akua Serwah (Serwaa)

Akua Serwah was strangled to death on January 19, 1996. In the early evening of January 20, a watchman at the Kumasi Stadium went out to inspect a newly built kiosk near the stadium. He found Serwah’s body lying near a bush and reported it to the police. After she was identified by her sister, police investigations showed that Serwah had visited her boyfriend’s restaurant the previous night. This led to the arrest of Quansah. Quansah denied that he knew Serwah.

Unidentified Woman 1

The body of a woman was found on August 20, 1998, and her remains have not been identified. Her death is attributed to Quansah.

Unidentified Woman 2

The body of a woman was found on September 29, 1998, and her remains have not been identified. Her death is attributed to Quansah.

Unidentified Woman 3

The body of a woman was found on June 22, 1999, and her remains have not been identified. Her death is attributed to Quansah.

Unidentified Woman 4

The body of a woman was found on August 15, 1999, and her remains have not been identified. Her death is attributed to Quansah.

Unidentified Woman 5

The body of a woman was found on September 24, 1999, and her remains have not been identified. Her death is attributed to Quansah.

Unidentified Woman 6

The body of a woman was found in a bush on June 25, 2000, and her remains have not been identified. Her death is attributed to Quansah.

Joyce Boateng

In July, 2000, Joyce Boateng was found murdered at the civil Aviation Quarters, Madina. Quansah would later claim Boateng was his girlfriend and that he heard about her murder on radio.

Millicent Mawunya Adeku

On December 10, 2000, Millicent Mawunya Adeku met Quansah at her relative’s bar. Quansah proposed a sexual encounter, but Adeku said no, and that she was married. She was not seen alive after leaving the bar. Adeku was found murdered behind a house on December 11, strangled and sexually posed. Her t-shirt was missing, and she had been strangled. Her t-shirt was later found in Quansah’s home.

Quansah was later charged with the murder of Adeku. Quansah allegedly claimed she had insulted him at the bar and he became “possessed” by an evil spirit, and killed her.

Arrest & Trial

FBI Gets Involved

The President of Ghana, recognizing that police did not have the training required for solving serial killings, requested help from the FBI. Investigator Gerry Downs and others from the Child Abduction/Serial Killer Unit (now the BAU) at Quantico, a polygrapher from Atlanta and the Washington Field Office headed to Ghana to assist. Authorities used the newly learned investigative techniques and began to zero in on Charles Quansah.

Quansah Arrested

With FBI participation, Quansah was interviewed and said the “spirits” made him commit murder.

Quansah was arrested for the murder of Joyce Boeteng. He was not charged with her murder, but instead faced murder charges for Akua Serwah. His arrest may have been facilitated by two county hunters (aka informants), Alhassan Mohammed Teena and C.K. Dwomoh. The men would later make a claim for the ¢50 million reward (then, about $8,500 US).

Quansah Confesses

Over 2 days, the American polygrapher got 9 confessions. The Ghanaian police then used the American interview techniques, including telling him he would be famous for being Ghana’s first serial killer, and subsequently Quansah confessed to a number of other murders.

Authorities allege Quansah completed his confessions on May 8, 2001. Quansah would later deny his confession, saying he was at first joking, and later, that he was tortured. He claimed years later that scars on his body were from police torturing a confession out of him. The apparent involvement of the FBI in his confession – including photographs of his arrest, fingerprinting, etc., belie those claims.

Quansah Found Guilty of Murdering Serwah

Quansah’s murder trial was controversial, even being suspended in July, 2002, because of “unfair media interference in the matter.” Copies of calendars with photographs of Quansah were sold on the market, and callers to phone-in programmes launched attacks on the defence counsel. After a few weeks, the trial resumed.

The use of information obtained with the assistance of the FBI, such as a polygraph test, would later be contested. Ghana news media speculated the police were lying since they had no polygraph machine available (it belonged to the FBI, who took it with them).

On August 6, 2001, a seven-member jury had unanimously found Charles Ebo Quansah guilty of the murder of Serwah. He was immediately sentenced to hang. Various sources written after the trial suggest he was found guilty of 1, 8, 9 or 34 murders.

Appeal

After his conviction, the docket and court records for Quansah’s appeal could not be found. They may have disappeared, or the appeal may never have been filed. The Legal Aids Board never paid the appeals lawyer, suggesting this was the reason the lawyer did not act within the five years since the trial.

Quansah’s Location

Ghana’s last execution was in 1993. Quansah continues to be held in prison, as far as I can determine.

WHERE IT HAPPENED

An interactive map of approximately where things happened

VIDEOS & PODCASTS

Video and podcast about Quansah

FBI Retired Case File Review with Jerri Williams

THE STATS

Named Victims

Possible Victims

Confessed Victims

Statistical table for Charles Quansah

Killer Name	QUANSAH, Charles
Killer AKA	The Accra Strangler, Pappa Kwabena Ebo
Gender	M
Arrest Date	May , 2001
Conviction Date	August 7, 2002
Sentence	Death sentence
Birth Location	Ghana
Birth Date	, 1964
Status	Alive or Unknown
School Other	high school drop out
Job Types	driver mechanic
Labour Type	Blue
Sexual Preference	straight
Marital Status	single
Number of Children	no
Killer Type	Sexual/Sadistic, Territorial
Alcohol Abuse	Yes
Psychology	Quansah claimed to have an abnormal reaction anytime he drank alcohol or ate cat meat
comment1	Denied killing anyone, and said he was tortured in police custody
comment2	According to him, between 1993 and 2001, he killed 4 women in Kumasi, and three Accra suburbs - Dansoman (2), Mataheko and Adenta (2).
comment3	confessed on May 8, 2001
comment4	According to the statistics, 10 women were murdered in 1998, 15 in 1999, 8 in 2000 and 2 in 2001
Total Dead Victims	34
Victims (Suspected)	23
Victims (Confessed)	8
Victims (Convicted)	1
Victims (Misc)	Likely 9, less likely 34
Victim Gender	F
Victim Race	Black
Victim Type	sex worker, food seller, stranger, girlfriend
Method of Killing	strangulation, stabbing
Robbery	Yes
Sex Assault	Yes
Binding	Yes
Pose Bodies	Yes
Totem-Other	all the murdered women had common features such as bodies lying supine, legs wide open, foreign objects inserted in their anal parts, unused condoms scattered at the scenes and victims' footwear neatly arranged beside their bodies.
Body - Left, Not Hidden	Yes
Body - Moved, Not Hidden	Yes
Previous Crimes	Rape 1986 and 1987, robbery
Previous Prison Time	yes

Killer Rating

 4/5

RESOURCES

Last updated on 7 July 2022 by E. Kelly Hemingway