A crashed mobile phone, a short text message, a wedding ring, a knife and a blood-stained towel are among key leads in the ongoing investigations into the murder of a businesswoman in Bomet.
Used condoms by the bedside were also part of the forensic investigations into the gruesome murder of Eva Rachel Chepkemoi Ruto, a 48-year-old mother of five children and also a grandmother of five.
Eva bled to death in her bed following the March 25 attack in which her throat was cut and chest stabbed.
Detectives suspect hers was a case of a love affair turned sour, citing their interviews with the main suspect, a gruesome killing that has left residents of Bomet in shock.
Ten days after the murder, a key suspect, Wesley Koech, 28, was arrested in Kericho, some 80 kilometres away from the scene of the heinous incident.
The arrest came a day before Eva’s burial at Aonet village in Longisa on Friday, on the same day Mr Koech was arraigned in Bomet.
“I was in love with her, an affair that had blossomed for some time. But I did not know that she was married to other people. What happened (murder) is true,” Mr Koech told Bomet Chief Magistrate Esther Boke when asked if he had something to tell the court during the arraignment on Friday.
Ms Boke allowed an application by the police, led by Investigating Officer Stanslous Chumbail, to detain the suspect for 14 days to allow for the charges to be properly prepared.
Eva Rachel Chepkemoi Ruto.
Photo credit: Vitalis Kimutai | Nation Media Group
The court also granted time to allow the suspect to be subjected to a psychiatric test and for him to be accorded the opportunity to get a defence lawyer.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) revealed that a crashed mobile phone belonging to the deceased, which was retrieved from the scene of the murder, played a key role in the arrest of the suspect, who is now in custody.
“Our officers retrieved the mobile phone, which was crashed in what appears to have been done in a fit of anger or in an effort to destroy evidence. Luckily, a technician successfully pieced together the phone,” Mr Emmanuel Ogao, the Bomet County Criminal Investigations Officer, revealed.
In an interview with Nation.Africa, Mr Ogao stated that subsequent forensic investigations revealed the people who were in conversation with Eva before the murder.
Mr Koech was pursued and arrested after forensic investigations revealed his communication with Eva, police said.
Initially, police said, the suspect fled to Fort Ternan in Kipkelion West constituency in the neighbouring Kericho County, where he was believed to have been hiding for more than eight days to evade a police dragnet.
However, he emerged from his hideout and travelled to Kericho town on Wednesday, with the investigators on his trail.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations Officers in Kericho laid a trap and arrested the suspect on Wednesday at Nyagacho estate, before handing him over to their Bomet counterparts on Thursday for processing.
“Following the arrest, the suspect led us to where he had kept the knife, which is the main murder weapon and which forms a crucial part in the investigations. The blood-stained weapon was retrieved and preserved,” Mr Ogao said.
"A blood-stained towel was also retrieved with full cooperation from the suspect, who has confessed to committing the crime,” he added.
The murder weapon and other items, Mr Ogao revealed, had been taken to the government chemist for forensic analysis.
A wedding ring believed to have been forcibly removed from the finger of the deceased was also recovered, along with photographs and other mementoes kept by the suspect after committing the crime.
“We were unable to recover the items on the night of March 25, 2025, at the scene of the murder when the body was discovered and subsequently moved to the mortuary as investigations commenced,” Mr Ogao stated.
Eva’s lifeless body was found by her eldest daughter, who, for more than a day, had been trying to reach her in vain as her phone was ringing without being answered.
Family members said the mother of five children and a grandmother of five, was engaged in the marketing of biogas systems for a local company in Bomet region, besides running a boutique business.
“We are calling on the police to arrest and prosecute all those who participated in the planning and execution of the murder. It does not make sense to take one’s life for whatever reason,” Mr Stanley Ruto, the husband of the deceased, told mourners.
Principal Secretary for Agriculture Paul Ronoh, Bomet Governor Hillary Barchok, Bomet Woman Representative Linet Chepkorir and Longisa Ward Member of County Assembly Stephen Changmorik were among those who attended the burial ceremony and called for an end to the rising murder cases in the region.
“We salute the police for the arrest of the suspect and subsequent arraignment in court to answer to murder charges,” Professor Barchok said.
