Police in Athi River on Wednesday retrieved the bodies of a couple alleged to be murder-suicide victims from their rented one-room shack.
The woman’s body was found on a bed, while the man’s was dangling on a rope from the roof of their house at Tufform informal settlement in Sabaki.
Police officers found cooked food—ugali with meat stew—at the scene.
Subcounty police commander George Kashimiri said the man may have killed his lover then committed suicide.
“According to our investigations, they might have been drunk when the incident occurred. There was a fight, then the husband killed the woman and later committed suicide,” Kashimiri told the Star on Wednesday.
He said the woman’s body showed signs of strangulation and her hands and legs were tied at the back using a chain. There were, however, no blood stains on either their clothes or bedding.
Police believe Paul Mutua, 30, strangled the woman who has yet to be identified, then ended his life.
Both bodies were moved to Shalom Community Hospital mortuary.
Neighbours said Mutua had rented the house two weeks ago. Neither he nor the woman was well known to them. Mutua’s relatives said the woman was a stranger to the family.
His first wife had died. The second one left him in October last year, took away their child and remarried.
"Paul is my seventh born son and the last time I saw him was in December 2020 and he had no wife. I don’t recognise the woman. He was married to a Kikuyu woman and they separated,” his mother, Nthambi Mutua, said.
His aunt, Joyce Kithinga, said: “I have been with him for long but I didn’t know he had moved to this area. The last time I checked he was living on KMC estate. He had separated from his second wife.”
Kithinga said Mutua was supporting their child after the estranged wife took him to the Children’s department where he was ordered to pay maintenance.
“I received a phone call that the man had died, the body found lifeless inside his house together with that of a woman. I was shocked with the sad news since we knew he had no wife,” Kithinga told the Star on Wednesday.
She said Mutua was sociable but never talked much.
Kashimiri urged residents to always use their social support systems when they have differences at home.
“My advice to couples is that if they have such differences, they must get assistance from elders, chiefs or local administrators. They should not kill their partners,” he said.