Man In Custody Following Attack On Wife, Intense Manhunt

Victor Chukunka Achonu, 53, of 3037 Bracey Place, was apprehended about 6:30 p.m. following a brief but intense manhunt. The search for Achonu began after emergency medical personnel responding to a 911 call from his home found Achonu's wife seriously injured.

Achonu has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and inflicting serious injuries.

Achonu's wife, 33-year-old Ebele Hope Achonu, was in critical condition Sunday night with a compressedrear skull fracture, partially amputated right and left hand, and lacerationto her left shoulder. She was transferred from WakeMed to Duke Medical Center.

According to police, Victor Achonu's three young children were home when he stabbed his wife with a butcher knife. He surrendered to Raleigh police with his hands raised and his shirt soaked in blood.

Officers who took the man into custody said he had a cut on his neck they believed was self-inflicted.

Police said Achonu's mother-in-law was at the house when the attack began and ran to a neighbor's house to call 911. She told police the knife used in the attack was about 12 to 18 inches long, describing the knife as the type used to cut meat and sever bones.

Investigators had not found the knife Sunday night.

Victor Achonu reportedly jumped a fence behind the house and disappeared into the woods after the attack. In the new subdivision in southeast Raleigh filled with young families, residents waited anxiously for police to capture one of their own neighbors.

Ebele Achonu was in surgery Sunday night and was not able to talk to police.