Lucy Wamaitha, who went missing in January.
Upon receiving confirmation from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations that the body without legs, hands and severed skull is that of her missing daughter, Ms Nancy Wambui, 68, says her world caved in.
Even after the head of the homicide department of the DCI Mr Martin Nyuguto on Sunday confirmed the arrest of the suspect in the gruesome murder of Lucy Wamaitha, Ms Wambui is distraught that she will never see her daughter again.
"I received a call on March 21, 2025, at around 6pm from a police officer who told me the DNA samples that had been extracted from me have now confirmed that the mutilated parts are those of my 32-year-old daughter, Lucy Wamaitha," Ms Wambui tearfully told Nation.Africa on March 23, 2025.
Ms Wambui added that "this tearfully brings to an end the search for my daughter who went missing on January 16, 2025, while in Embu town...I was more comfortable when we were searching for her than when it was confirmed that she was dead".
"The hope that she would come out from somewhere and get reunited with me was consoling enough. There now goes my peace. My devastation knows no cure".
Suspect rearrested
Mr Nyunguto announced that Mr Stanley Njuguna, 29, who was the last person to be seen in the company of Wamaitha has since been rearrested.
The suspect was Wamaitha's boss in a non-governmental organisation based in Kiandutu slums in Thika that dealt in rescue and rehabilitation of less privileged children.
The two had taken one of the kids to a school in Meru County and thereafter retreated to Embu town where they took some meals. Her phone went off at around 9pm.
"Mr Njuguna who accompanied Wamaitha to Meru county on January 16, 2025, before she disappeared while in Embu town on the same date was first arrested on January 20, 2025, and arraigned at Thika courthouse," Mr Nyunguto said.
The suspect was released on a free bond as investigations went on but has now been rearrested after it was confirmed that the remains that were retrieved from River Tana in Embu County were indeed those of Wamaitha.
Mr Nyunguto said the suspect will be charged with murder.
Brutal murder
It is suspected that Wamaitha was sedated, murdered, her body cut into pieces, the remains doused with corrosive chemical, packed in gunny bags and tossed into River Tana.
A postmortem examination conducted on January 29 failed to ascertain the cause of death.
"The nature of destruction against the owner of the remains makes it impossible to attribute the cause of death. However, traces of uterus material in the torso make it certain that the remains are that of a female," the report reads.
As the search for the missing Wamaitha intensified, the DCI took saliva samples from Ms Wambui on February 12 for DNA test whose results have now confirmed the worst.
Police probe
As investigations now focus on apprehending all possible suspects in the gruesome murder, a case file seen by Nation.Africa shows the police have recorded five statements.
The first is that of the missing person report by the mother, that of Mr Njuguna, the mortuary and police report about the retrieval of the body parts from River Tana, that of Wamaitha's neighbour in Thika's Kisii Estate and the DNA results.
Of interest is the statement of Mr Njuguna who narrates that he was with Wamaitha when they accompanied the pupil to Meru Secondary school and travelled back to Embu town.
The two were using Mr Njuguna's car. He was the driver.
"We took meals at Java Hotel in Embu town before we left for Thika Town. At around 10pm, she requested that I drop her in the outskirts of Thika town where a small white car was waiting. I left her in the company of the occupants and I drove off....only to later learn that she was missing," Mr Njuguna recorded in his statement.
The DCI tracking system indicates that Ms Wamaitha's phone signal went off while in Embu town, the same case as that of Mr Njuguna.
While that of Wamaitha has never been switched on, that of Mr Njuguna was switched on the following day in Thika town.
Of great interest now is whether Ms Wamaitha met her cruel death while in Embu or its neighbourhood. Or it was after she fell in the hands of the occupants of the cited white car in Thika--if ever it is true there was such a scene.
Premonition
Ms Wambui said her daughter had on January 14 called her expressing a premonition of her death.
"Mum, pray for me without ceasing for I suspect that someone at the workplace wants me dead. Someone is really working hard to set me up for the dead," Ms Wambui quoted her daughter telling her.
Three days later, she went missing and found dead.
On January 22, the DCI officers took to Ms Wambui pieces of brown dreadlocks asking if she could identify them.
"I reported back that the pieces were strikingly similar to those that my daughter had before she went missing. The officers then took me to Embu mortuary where they showed me a torso with no neck and hands as well as a clean skull," she said.
Ms Wambui said her daughter had postponed marriage and getting her own kids so as to first provide for her.
"She was the last born. she had a brother and a sister but she is was only one who was lucky to have an income," Ms Wambui lamented.
She said Wamaitha schooled in Thika Muslim Primary School before she proceeded to Gatura Girls High School. She attended Harvard Institute in Thika where she graduated with a Diploma in Community Development and Social Work in 2018.
