Police have arrested a 38-year-old man suspected of killing his girlfriend in Kimbo, Githurai, three days ago.
Evans Karani from Githurai Kimbo was arrested after his car got stuck in the mud in Witeithie area, Juja, with the body of Catherine Nyokabi, 25, inside.
Police said the suspect confessed to killing Nyokabi, a hotel worker in Kahawa Wendani, following a bitter conflict.
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Karani attempted to discard Nyokabi’s body, but his car got stuck in the mud on Bob Harris Road in Juja. Karani fled the scene leaving the car with the body inside.
Curious passersby who saw the abandoned car alerted the police after peeping in and seeing a body inside.
DCI detectives traced the car to Karani after verification from the National Transport and Safety Authority’s Registrar of Motor Vehicles.
A hunt for Karani was launched by a multi-agency team comprising the police, DCI officers and the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB) officers.
The search led the team to a rented house in Kimbo where the suspect was arrested on Friday.
Karani told police that the two had been dating for a while before the intense squabble that led to the loss of Nyokabi’s life.
The authorities said Nyokabi’s body was badly disfigured and it is suspected that she had been burnt using a corrosive chemical.
Besides the burn injuries, she had bruises on the face and head, a possibility that she was tortured before being killed.
The deceased’s father, Gitonga Njogu, told a local daily that initial reports suggested his daughter, the first born in a family of four children, died in a road accident.
“On social media, certain people were claiming my child was killed in a car crash in Juja. However, when we got to see her body at the City Mortuary, we were shocked. The visible injuries clearly indicated Nyokabi’s cause of death was not a road accident as had been alleged,” Njogu said.
He said Nyokabi was hard-working, cheerful and very loving with a promising future.
The father also said he knew Karani as his daughter had introduced him as her suitor.
“I knew them to be lovers. Just like in any other relationship, they had differences, which I would help them iron out,” he said.
“Two weeks ago, my daughter said she and Karani had broken up. I told her, it was okay; she shouldn’t cling onto a relationship in which she was unhappy. That was the last time I heard of the suspect”.
Karani is being held at the Juja Police Station. He will be arraigned on Monday, April 19, when detectives would seek to detain him longer to allow for investigations to be completed.