Four years ago, Ken Kipkirui Ngeno, a 39-year-old Information Communication Technology (ICT) specialist, complained to his family and friends that his life was in danger.
One evening, he called his elder brother, claiming some people who were out to harm him were on his trail.
Ken worked with an ICT company in Mombasa that was charged with the responsibility of maintaining masts for one of the leading telecommunication companies when he disappeared.
Ken Kipkirui Ngeno is a 39-year-old information communication technology specialist who disappeared without a trace in Mombasa four years ago.
Photo credit: Pool | Nation
He went missing on February 24, 2021, while travelling from Mombasa to Bomet, to flee from those alleged to have been trailing him.
Ken previously worked in Israel, Senegal and Angola before returning to Kenya, where he was employed by the ICT Company, according to the family members.
Ms Linda Biegon, his mother, and Mr Walter Ng’eno (Ken’s eldest brother), narrated how their loved one disappeared after repeatedly expressing a fear for his life.
Mr Walter Ngeno (left) and his mother, Ms Linah Biegon, during an interview at their home in Kiplokyi, Bomet County, on May 19, 2025, where they appealed for help to trace Ken Kipkirui Ngeno, who disappeared in Mombasa four years ago.
Photo credit: Vitalis Kimutai | Nation
The family members have been to police stations, hospitals and morgues in the search for their loved one in vain.
Where's our kin? Bomet family seeks answers on missing Israeli-trained ICT Officer
From the Shakahola massacre on the Coast to the retrieval of bodies dumped in the River Yala in Western Kenya, the family members have been searching for Kipkirui, without answers.
A passionate appeal by the family has been sent to the Cabinet Secretary for Interior Kipchumba Murkomen, Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja and the Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin, to step in and have the file reopened, the matter investigated with a view to finding Kipkirui.
His disappearance has been a source of great pain to the family, which is yet to unravel the reasons why Kipkirui claimed his life was in danger.
“Besides going to hospitals and morgues, I have also sought divine intervention, but there has been no trace of him,” Ms Biegon said.
Ms Biegon said the family had been through a lot in the four-year search and had depleted their savings in the process due to travelling around the country in the hope they would find their missing kin.
“It has been difficult to get a good night’s sleep well, knowing my child is missing, not knowing whether he is dead or alive,” Ms Biegon said.
Ms Biegon said, “I sacrificed for his education in the hope that he will turn our lives around after securing a job. But, in the end, trouble unexpectedly knocked on our door. We have depleted family resources searching for him”
She hangs on to a black flowing dress her missing son bought for her while working in Israel. She has turned it into a nightdress.
Ms Biegon is a single mother who treasures a dress bought for her by her second son, Ken Kipkirui Ngeno, while he was working in Israel. This photo was taken on May 19, 2025, at her home in Kiplokyi, Bomet County. Ngeno has been missing for the last four years, and the family has searched in vain for him in morgues, hospitals, prisons and police stations.
Photo credit: Vitalis Kimutai | Nation
The other clothes that were bought for her in the same period are already worn out, but this has outlasted all of them.
“Wearing the clothes as a nightdress keeps hopes alive, that one day, my son will rejoin us, that he will turn up alive. It is my daily prayer, one that I am confident God will answer,” Ms Biegon said.
Ken attended Highlands Primary and Secondary school before proceeding to Railways Institute and later joined Jomo Kenyatta University for a degree and was due to graduate when he went missing.
In January 2021, three months after being employed and deployed to Mombasa with 15 of his colleagues, Ken told his family members that his life was in danger.
“He claimed that some of his colleagues were out to harm him for reasons he did not disclose to us,” Mr Ng’eno, Ken’s elder brother, said.
In an interview on Monday, Mr Ngeno revealed, “On February 24, 2021, at around 3 pm, my brother (Ken) called me claiming his life was in danger and that there were people who were trailing”
“I told him to immediately board a bus to Nairobi and take one to our rural home in Bomet to ensure his safety,” Mr Ngeno said.
Ken is said to have taken a tuktuk and used the driver’s phone to inform his brother that he was on his way to the bus station as directed.
Ken Kipkirui Ngeno is a 39-year-old information communication technology specialist who disappeared without a trace in Mombasa four years ago.
Photo credit: Pool | Nation
Later, when he travelled to Mombasa to trace his brother on March 3, 2021, when it became apparent that Ken was missing, Mr Ngeno said he traced the tuktuk driver.
“The driver confirmed to have picked Ken up and took him from Saba Saba to the Tudor area, and on the way, he threw away his mobile phone. When questioned over the action, he told the driver that some people were trailing him and he would be safer without the phone,” Mr Ngeno revealed.
Ken’s colleagues told the family that they did not know the reasons why he feared for his life and that he had told them that he was travelling upcountry on the day he went missing.
At the flat he was staying in with his colleagues in the Fisheries area, he is said to have told the caretaker that his life was in danger.
Mr Ngeno revealed that he went to the Coast General Hospital in an effort to confirm whether or not Ken had been admitted there, but there were no records of him.
He went to the hospital mortuary, but still could not trace him and no records of the unidentified person.
The investigations also took him to Shima La Tewa prisons, which revealed there were no records of him at the correctional facility.
“I recorded a statement at Makupa police station of a missing person under OB number 33/3/3/2021 and later reported the matter at Malindi Police Station,” Mr Ngeno stated.
Mr Walter Ngeno (left) and his mother, Ms Linah Biegon, during an interview at their home in Kiplokyi, Bomet County, on May 19, 2025, where they appealed for help to trace Ken Kipkirui (inset) Ngeno, who disappeared in Mombasa four years ago.
Photo credit: Vitalis Kimutai | Nation
During the Shakahola massacre, the family travelled to the Coastal region to check if the people found alive and the bodies exhumed included one of their own, but there has been no feedback from the police.
“At Shakaola, my samples were taken for DNA testing, and none so far have come out matching mine with the bodies exhumed. It gives us hope that Ken is still alive and will reunite with us,” Mr Ngeno said.
Still, the family travelled to the Western region when bodies were retrieved from the Yala River, but none matched that of their own.
The Immigration department has confirmed to the family that Ken has not travelled out of the country using his passport.
“We strongly believe that his colleagues are aware of what happened to him before or in the course of travelling to Nairobi from Mombasa,” Mr Ngeno said.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations confirmed to the family that Ken’s phone was on February 23, 2021.
Con artists have taken advantage of the family with fake leads, sometimes attempting to exploit them financially. In some cases, they have fallen for the ruse.
“We are appealing to the government, especially the police, well-wishers and members of the public to help us trace our son so we can re-unite with him,” Ms Biegon said.
The family lives in the hope that they will soon reunite with Ken, who has been missing, leaving them distraught.
