A university student linked to the murder of a fellow student at the Multimedia University (MMU) surrendered to authorities days after being on the run.
Police said the suspect, a first-year Electrical Engineering student, is also a student at the MMU.
Nairobi Police Commander George Sedah said he surrendered at the Sultan Hamud police station in Makueni on Thursday night after being linked to the murder of Sylvia Kemunto, who was a first-year Mass Communications and Computer Science major.
The suspect had been on the run since last Monday when he is believed to have killed and dumped Kemunto’s body in a water tank at the college hours after he killed her.
Sedah said a team from Nairobi had traveled to Sultan Hamud police station to pick up the suspect for grilling.
“It is unfortunate that a bright girl was killed. We believe he is a prime suspect in the murder, and a team has gone to pick him up,” he said.
It is believed he escaped to his rural home after the murder.
He said they want to understand if he had acted alone and what his motivation was.
The search for Kemunto started on Sunday, March 30, when her mother, Triza Kwamboka, who lives in Kawangware, Nairobi, failed to reach her.
She said she had sent her upkeep money through a church elder’s phone, but her calls went unanswered when she tried to confirm whether her daughter had received the funds. Becoming concerned, Kemunto’s mother traveled to the university, only to discover that her daughter was missing.
The college management confirmed her absence, prompting the mother to file a report at Langata Police Station.
The mother told police Kemunto had complained about a fellow student who was making advances to her but she was resistant.
“She said she did not like him, and I told her to stand firm,” said Kwamboka.
Police investigations show the student may have been killed in her room and the body later dragged to the rooftop of the hostel where the water tanks are and dumped there.
The killers then tied the tank with a wire and placed a stone there, ostensibly to deter any detection. On the day Kemunto went missing, her roommate said she went to church and left her alone in the room.
That day, the said boyfriend visited her in the room at about lunch hour.
Witnesses told police they later saw the man drag a suitcase belonging to the deceased student from her room to his room in a different block.
It is suspected the suitcase contained the woman’s body. Later that night, the man’s roommate reportedly noticed the suitcase in their room, but it was missing the following morning.
The witness said he saw the suspect lie on the suitcase but did not understand what the motivation was.
“The next morning, I woke up around 8 and noticed that both the guy and the suitcase were gone,” the witness said.
The report of the missing student prompted police investigations, which traced her phone signal within the university compound.
It was switched off but showed it was still within the compound near Ongata Rongai.
This prompted the school management to initiate a search on campus.
On Wednesday, a foul smell emanating from Block E caught the attention of the search team.
By afternoon, the source of the odor was identified and traced to a water tank on the rooftop of one of the hostels.
Kemunto’s decomposing body was discovered therein before it was moved to the mortuary, police said.
An autopsy was planned on the body to tell how she died.
MMU acting Vice Chancellor Prof. Geoffrey Kihara said the police are investigating the murder.
“It is clear that on that day Sunday when the girl was reported missing, the boy entered her room,” he said.
The incident adds to the rising number of murders targeting women amid efforts to address the trend.
by CYRUS OMBATI
