The woman whose body was exhumed from a shallow grave in Trans Nzoia on Tuesday has been identified as Alice Chemutai who was a resident of Kitale town.
Trans Nzoia DCI boss Paul Songok led homicide officers at the home where the body was exhumed and said three suspects were in custody in connection with her death and secret burial.
The three men include one who is alleged to have been her lover.
Songok said police were not in a position to give all details about the deceased but referred the media to family members who were present.
A sister of the deceased Elizabeth Kipkemboi said she went missing about two weeks ago from Kitale town.
“I can’t believe this is my sister found in this grave and we really don’t know what happened,” said Elizabeth.
She said the deceased who is a mother of one had been in a relationship with one of the suspects for the last three months.
“She never complained about any fears but just went missing and we had been tracing her all over,” said Elizabeth.
The DCI boss said the suspects arrested are linked to one other death of a woman which is still under investigation.
The suspects had leased the house where the body was found three months ago and they were found with crude weapons and a pair of police uniforms.
“We will do a postmortem on the body to establish how the deceased was murdered,” said Songok.
Songok said the incident was reported by residents of the area leading to the arrest of the suspects:
The body was found in her clothes and wrapped in a blanket. It had been buried about two feet deep. The body is in a night dress and a brazier.
Songok said there were no physical injuries on the body which had started decomposing.
The DCI boss says the suspects may be linked to several cases but police will seek to establish the same.
The home where the body was retrieved lies about eight kilometres off the road from Kitale to Eldoret.
Tens of police officers were deployed in the area where hundreds of shocked residents had turned up to witness the exhumation of the body.
The deceased was from the Kapsara area in the same county
