BY Grace Zigah
A Ghanaian academic based in the United States, Dr Kofi Akamani, 48, a professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIU), has been shot dead in Illinois.
His wife, 35-year-old Betty Akamani, has been arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder. She is being held without bond at the Jackson County Jail and is scheduled to return to court on October 6, 2026.
According to prosecutors and law-enforcement accounts presented during a September 21 pre-trial detention hearing, Dr Akamani was allegedly shot on Saturday, September 19, after leaving his wife’s residence following a scheduled child-custody visitation drop-off.
Deputies reportedly responded to a shooting incident near Lake Road between Murphysboro and Carbondale at about 5p.m. Dr Akamani was transported to Memorial Hospital of Carbondale, where he was pronounced dead.
Authorities have not publicly established a motive, and the allegations against Betty Akamani remain unproven in court.
During the latest hearing, prosecutors reportedly referred to a 2024 order-of-protection proceeding, alleging that Dr Akamani had previously documented concerns about his wife’s mental health.
Prosecutors also told the court that Betty had made allegations that her husband was involved in trafficking children through a local restaurant.
According to the prosecution, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office investigated the claims but found no evidence supporting them, while accounts from the couple’s children reportedly contradicted the allegations.
Betty Akamani also faces a separate allegation of endangering the life or health of a child.
Dr Akamani had built a distinguished academic career at Southern Illinois University, where he joined the Department of Forestry in 2011 and became a full professor in 2024.
His work focused on forest recreation, conservation social science and natural-resource management, including research into how rural communities respond to environmental and economic changes.
He served as director of the Agricultural Sciences doctoral programme and graduate studies in forestry and contributed to the Fifth National Climate Assessment and international environmental assessments covering biodiversity, water, food and health.
In June 2026, he was elected Secretary-General of the International Union of Biological Sciences for a three-year term. He also served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Sustainable Forestry.
Born and raised in Ghana, Dr Akamani studied Development Planning with a specialisation in Urban Planning at KNUST, before obtaining an MPhil from the University of Oslo in 2006 and a PhD in Natural Resources from the University of Idaho in 2011.
During his doctoral studies, he returned to Ghana to conduct research into collaborative forest management and the resilience of forest-dependent communities in the Ashanti Region.
His achievements included the SIU College of Agricultural Sciences Early Career Faculty Excellence Award in 2016 and the University of Idaho College of Natural Resources International Alumni Achievement Award in 2023.
