Trail runs cold in probe into Jennifer Wambua murder

 

The investigation into the murder of National Lands Commission (NLC) Communications Director Jennifer Wambua is threatening to turn into yet another cold case, with no suspect questioned, two weeks after she was killed.

The Nation has established that the police have been unable to find a solid clue that could lead to the arrest of the killers.

The star witness in a Sh122-million corruption case was buried in Kathekakai village, Machakos County on Wednesday, with colleagues, friends and family calling for the arrest of the killers.

“The commission will assist the authorities to unravel this death so that perpetrators are arrested,” NLC chairperson Gershom Otachi promised the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

Former Kibwezi MP Kalembe Ndile told DCI boss George Kinoti to give the case the weight it deserves.

State witnesses

“If this trend continues and the Director of Public Prosecutions is not careful, Kenyans will be discouraged from becoming State witnesses,” he said.

But even the family insisted on the DCI finding the killers, the threat of the investigations turning cold continue to mount.

No suspects had been interrogated by yesterday evening, the Nation was told.

Only immediate family members, colleagues and security officers who might have an idea of what transpired in the days before March 12, when Wambua disappeared have been quizzed.

Those familiar with investigations into homicides say detectives should get a lead within the first 48 hours after being called.

The clock starts ticking the moment the case is transferred from the crime department of a police station to the DCI.

If a lead is not found in the first two days, chances of solving the murder are cut by half.

Wambua’s case was first taken up by the DCI the day she was discovered missing. It was then transferred to the DCI’s Homicide Unit headed by Mr Martin Nyuguto a day after her body was found.

Contaminated

That was the fourth day from when she vanished. Shortfalls in the investigation were visible from the moment Mr Nyuguto’s team took charge.

The thicket where the body was found was sealed in the presence of journalists on March 16. It may have been contaminated for three days.

Wambua’s workmates and kin were questioned by two DCI teams.

Preliminary investigations have not yet found a link to the corruption case. Wambua was to be cross examined in a case in which Lugari MP Ayub Savula and 22 others are accused of defrauding the Government Advertising Agency of Sh122 million.  BY DAILY NATION