A family in Bomet County has been thrown into mourning after their 26-year-old son who had been missing for the last four days was found dead in Nairobi.
The lifeless body of Ian Singoe, an engineer, was found in Mwiki area, Kasarani, on Saturday following a search by family, relatives and friends. The family confirmed that the body has positively been identified.
The deceased is the son of Elgeyo Marakwet County Commissioner John Korir and Bomet County Chief Officer for Culture and Social Service Pauline Chemutai Korir, also a former university lecturer.
The lifeless body of Ian Singoe, an engineer, was found in Mwiki area, Kasarani, on Saturday following a search by family, relatives, and friends.
“It is true, Ian’s lifeless body has been found around Mwiki in Kasarani, Nairobi. The circumstances leading to his death are under investigation,” a statement from the family said on Saturday.
Ms Korir confirmed in an earlier interview that the family had mounted a search for him after he was reported missing, five days after he left the family home at Siongiroi in Chepalungu Constituency, Bomet County.
“He left home on December 29, 2024, saying he wanted to go get a certificate of service from an energy company he was working for. But I suspected that he was going for an end-year party with his friends and colleagues,” Ms Korir said.
Abductions: Section of TUM students issue ultimatum to government
The Technical University of Mombasa (TUM) mechanical engineering graduate went missing on December 31, 2024, having earlier stepped out of the house he was living in Kasarani.
It is said that his fiancée was alarmed on the morning of January 1, 2025, when she repeatedly called him but he was not responding.
The fiancée, it emerged, had also called him the previous night and he said he was in a club for the end-year and New Year party.
The woman informed the young man’s brother, who also attempted to raise him in vain, leading to a search around the estate he lived in.
On January 2, 2024, the parents were informed that Ian was missing and they reported the matter to the police.
“He is said to have left the house while clad in a maroon T-shirt, a navy blue trouser and slip-on shoes. It appeared he was taking a casual walk in the hope he would return shortly to the house,” Ms Korir said.
According to triangulations by the DCI, Ian’s phone went off on New Year’s Day at 2:39am, around Mwiki in Kasarani, with the police having told the family there was no incident reported around the area on the night of December 31, 2024.
“His cousin went to the house on January 1, 2025, after the attempt to locate him failed, and found the door open as he had not returned,” Ms Korir revealed.
The family members panicked and mounted a search leading to the discovery of the body on Saturday, in unclear circumstances.
“We went to the extent of hiring boda boda riders in Kasarani to search for him in swamps around Nairobi river, but it was all in vain,” Ms Korir said.
The body is said not to have had any physical injuries to indicate a struggle, but police are investigating the incident with a postmortem being awaited, in what is expected to shed light on the circumstances of his death.
The deceased is said not to have been in any known conflict with anyone who might have targeted him.
By press time, the circumstances under which the body was discovered were not clear with the family expected to release a comprehensive statement later.
Separately, in Kiambu County, 27-year-old John Muchiri Muthoni was found by the roadside in the Kawaida area on Saturday, hours after he left his house for the club on Friday.
His aunt, Virginia Nyambura, said Muchiri’s girlfriend informed her that he left for the club in the neighbourhood with a friend at around 3pm.
Ms Nyambura added that the girlfriend was called at around 2am on January 4 via Muchiri’s mobile phone but the caller did not speak.
She was shortly called by a strange number but the caller, the girlfriend reportedly said, did not speak.
“She was again called by the unidentified caller at around 6am informing her that Muchiri was badly injured and was lying in a trench, near the Kawaida area,” she said.
Ms Nyambura said the girlfriend proceeded to the spot, saw the body, and called her.
“I left the house with a T-shirt and a leso to cover him because I was informed that he was naked. I thought he was still alive,” she said.
Ms Nyambura said she recognised the body immediately on seeing him. “We don’t know who did it and why he was killed,” she said.
According to Ms Nyambura, Muchiri had moved houses on Friday and had informed his girlfriend about it.
She said Muchiri was planning to leave for Qatar where he had gone to work in 2023 but returned after four months.
