Police are investigating the death of a Thika businessman whose half naked body they found in his car at a parking yard in Gatanga Sub-county.
A report at the Gatanga Sub-County police post, filed by businessman Samuel Murigi’s wife, says he left their Landless Estate home in the outskirts of Thika town on March 13 to attend a friend’s fundraiser in Kenol town, some 16 kilometres away.
He did not return home, prompting the wife, Ms Catherine Nduta, to file a missing persons report with police.
Ms Nduta, 45, said she became more apprehensive when she called her husband’s phone and a woman answered, saying they were at an entertainment joint.
Mr Murigi’s wife told the police that she decided to go to that location - Jogoo Kimakia Country Club - to check if he was indeed there.
“I visited the bar and his vehicle, a Toyota double cabin pickup of registration number KAQ 553 P, was at the parking yard,” her report states.
When she checked the car, she found her husband’s body lying across the driver’s cabin.
Gatanga police boss Peter Muchemi told the Nation that investigations will establish the circumstances under which the 67-year-old businessman died.
“We are not certain how he died. We are trying to trace his last moments. We will issue a comprehensive report once we start making headway,” he said.
Detectives will seek to establish if Mr Murigi was at Kenol for a fundraiser, how he ended up at the bar where his body was found, in whose company he was in his last moments and the exact cause of death through a post-mortem.
“It is only after we have credible working variables that we can ascertain whether we are dealing with self-induced harm, a murder or a normal death,” Mr Muchemi said.
“We cannot be guided by findings of the naked eye since they can be stage-managed. Only a thorough investigation will give us a credible report to make public.”
Area DCI boss, Mr John Kanda, said preliminary investigations will be complete by Wednesday.
“We [have done] scene management rituals and forwarded specimens to relevant bodies for testing. We are now at the stage of rounding up witnesses to record statements. After the post-mortem gives us its insights, we will have an action plan to found our next course of action,” he said.
The businessman had vast interests in real estate, transport and general merchandise.
Thika Business Community chair Alfred Wanyoike eulogised him as among the area’s “finest and most seasoned deal cutters, whose wealth portfolio runs into millions of shillings”.
