An autopsy on the severed head of slain University student Rita Waeni Muendo revealed that she was strangled, and later decapitated.
Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor said on Thursday, January 25, following the conclusion of a postmortem examination at City Mortuary, Nairobi.
Oduor also revealed that a blunt object bruised Waeni’s scalp.
"The main findings were that the head had been chopped off from the neck at the level of C5 (vertebrae on the neck).
There was bruising on the scalp caused by a blunt object.
"We also saw some fractures on bones,” said Oduor while addressing journalists.
“I can comfortably conclude that the cause of death was strangulation after which she was decapitated and her body dumped.”
He said there were bruises on the head that may have been inflicted by a blunt object and some fractured bones on the neck.
The head was chopped off at the neck, he added.
The family of slain Waeni had Thursday identified a human head that had recovered from a dam as that of the woman.
This was made through her forehead, hair and teeth formation.
The move gave pathologists led by Chief Oduor the green light to conduct an autopsy of the head as part of efforts to establish how she died on January 13 at an apartment in Roysambu, Nairobi.
The exercise was conducted at the City Mortuary following an earlier one that had been done on other body parts.
The family had identified a blouse that had been found wrapped around the head when it was discovered at a dam in Kiambaa, Kiambu County.
Detectives suspect the killing of Waeni was part of an ongoing occultism in the country.
Occultism is part of the leading causes of murder in the country and the investigation team said it’s part of the theories they are investigating as a motive of the cold-blood murder.
“It looks like a ritual which I think was motivated by a cult-like belief,” said an officer aware of the issue.
The investigation team wants to know if there are more such killings similar to that of Waeni.
The dismembered body of Waeni was found in a dustbin at an apartment on TRM Drive, Kasarani but her head was missing.
The head was later found wrapped in a purple female blouse and then put in a green carrier bag with a stone in it.
Waeni’s family was first unable to identify her head last Monday at the City Mortuary.
Her head had been recovered at the dam in Kiambu on Sunday, January 21. An autopsy was earlier planned on the head Tuesday but was moved to Thursday.
This is after detectives from the homicide at DCI said they were not ready for the exercise.
The human head was found floating in Ite Dam at Kimuga village, Kimuga sub-location, Kiambaa location by locals.
On Sunday, January 21, two Nigerians were arrested over the murder hours after the discovery of the head.
A hatchet, butcher’s knife, a national identity card belonging to Omar Mwamkwaju Juma, six mobile phones, three laptops, 10 SIM cards from different telecom service providers and other items were recovered at the house where the two suspects were living.