As thousands globally grieve African ruler’s murder, a Beaufort Co. village mourns alone

While a tight-knit, heavily traditional community in Beaufort County reeled from the sudden murder of their leader , the somber but reverent tributes poured in from the other side of the globe.

“A perfect gentleman with incredible native intelligence,” wrote an entrepreneur from Lagos, Nigeria, adding that the chief was “loaded with wisdom of African culture.”

Others used the moment to commend the man’s legacy. “Kings don’t die in Yoruba cultural heritage,” wrote another Nigerian citizen, “meaning the king has transformed and transitioned.”

But at the scene of the crime, residents of Sheldon’s Oyotunji African Village relied on their own small support system. They would abstain from interviews during the several days required for a series of cultural ceremonies honoring their former ruler, 47-year-old Adegbolu Adiogemo Adefunmi II. In their tradition, the goal of those burial rites is to “send the deceased’s spirit to its ancestral realm.”

Adefunmi died just after 3:30 p.m. Monday at Beaufort Memorial Hospital from “multiple stab wounds,” according to the county coroner’s office. After a brief manhunt in the wooded area surrounding the community, police charged the chief’s own sister — Beaufort resident Akiba Kasale Meredith, 52 — with his murder. Investigators would not say if the killing was motivated by village politics or arose from another type of dispute.

Oyotunji’s official website names Adefunmi as the King of the Yoruba of North America, a title he inherited from his father. Up to 2,000 people are expected to attend his funeral, which has not been publicly scheduled.

Consisting of about 10 families living in African-style stucco huts, the intentional community is located northwest of Garden’s Corner, where U.S. 21 intersects with U.S. 17 in the upper reaches of Beaufort County.

Dozens of deputies from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office responded to the homicide call around 2:45 p.m. Monday at the village. At least one of Adefunmi’s stab wounds was to his neck, according to an incident report.

A spokesperson for the village greeted a reporter outside the gates Wednesday morning, saying the village was not currently accepting visitors and that residents would not comment on the incident. Oyotunji welcomes outsiders under normal circumstances, receiving an estimated 20,000 visitors per year for educational tours of the community.

Further down the road, a sign advises travelers they are entering a place starkly different from the coastal southern community that surrounds it.

“You are now leaving the United States,” reads the sign’s black, handpainted lettering. “You are entering the Yoruba Kingdom.”

African royalty in Beaufort County

Adefunmi is said to have brought Oyotunji into the modern age, opening its gates to the public for festivals and even offering overnight stays for a small price. Villagers addressed him primarily as “Oba,” which in Yoruba language means “king.”

He took over as the village’s ruler in 2005 following the death of his father, Oba Adefunmi I, who founded the Oyotunji African Village in 1973 in hopes of bringing African culture and religion to Black Americans. Historians believe Oyotunji was the first village of its kind in the United States, crediting Adefunmi I as “the father of the Yoruban cultural restoration movement,” according to a New York Times obituary .

Although the community was home to over 200 villagers at its height in the 1970s, Oyotunji’s current population is believed to consist of about 25 people. It’s meant to emulate modern-day African villages of the Yoruba religion, which dates back to the first millennium in what is now Nigeria, Benin and Togo.

“There are those who were afraid of the African village. It has intrigued and scared people,” Adefunmi told The Beaufort Gazette in 2009. “We want to get rid of that stigma.”

Oyotunji residents celebrate 14 festivals every year, showing off their colorful traditional clothing along with singing and dancing. Other curiosities of the settlement — such as animal sacrifices and polygamy practiced by male leaders — have attracted national attention, including a “60 Minutes” camera crew in 1986.

Beaufort County officials have vowed to protect the village’s cultural character, granting it a religious exemption from property taxes in 2005.

What led to the fatal stabbing?

Beaufort County detectives have remained tight-lipped about a motive behind the alleged fratricide, and little is known about the relationship between Adefunmi and his sister. A search of Meredith’s criminal history revealed over a dozen prior convictions dating back to 2003, including two for domestic violence, a handful for drug possession and a second-degree assault that landed her in prison for a month in 2018.

Despite the village’s unique sociopolitical nature, spokesperson Master Sgt. Danny Allen says the sheriff’s office is investigating the killing using standard procedures.

“They’re still part of our county,” he told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. “We treat it just like any other location.”

Allen added that the sheriff’s office was not aware of any significant conflicts between villagers prior to the killing.

Just days before the king’s death, Adefunmi told deputies his Ford pickup had been stolen from the Wimbee Boat Landing, located about 10 miles east of Oyotunji. During a late night out with friends July 24, he left the truck in the pier’s parking lot according to a sheriff’s office report. When he returned the next day, the vehicle was gone.

Investigators do not believe the truck theft is connected to Adefunmi’s murder, according to Allen.

Funeral arrangements for Adefunmi will be organized by Allen Funeral Home in Beaufort, according to his obituary . Representatives from the Oyotunji African Village did not respond to a request for comment made over voicemail on Tuesday.