What was meant to be a joyful night out in Otonglo ended in tragedy with a young woman brutally killed.
On September 27, 2025, Emily Akoth left her parents’ home in Riat, along the Kisumu-Busia road, to attend a friend’s party barely a kilometer away in Otonglo.
It was supposed to be an evening of laughter, music, and youth celebrating life. Instead, it ended in horror.
Around 10 pm, her father, Erick Soth, received a call that would change his life forever.
“The caller said he was a police officer from Maseno and told me that my daughter had been involved in an accident. I thought it was a conman trying to extort money,” he recounted.
Six minutes later, a second call came in, this time from a woman claiming to be a police officer.
She insisted that Mr Soth rush to Otonglo and take his daughter to the hospital. Still skeptical, he hesitated.
Minutes later, the same caller delivered the unthinkable news: Emily’s body had been taken to the morgue at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH).
“I woke my wife and told her. We rushed to the morgue. I was devastated to see my child’s lifeless body,” said Mr Soth.
Akoth had just graduated from Rotary College in Kisumu on July 14, 2025.
Her parents described her as tidy, hardworking, and brilliant, with a future full of promise.
“She was a bright young woman with so much ahead of her. She did not deserve to die like this,” her mother said.
Witnesses later told the family that Akoth's estranged boyfriend, Victor Otieno, stormed the party armed with a panga.
He allegedly terrified the revelers before attacking Akoth and fleeing. Her friends scattered in fear before calling for help.
Police later recovered the blood-stained weapon from Otieno’s rented house in Kisumu West, hidden under a bed. But the suspect himself has vanished.
“The man has never been found. We cannot bury Akoth before justice is done,” said Mr Soth.
The family has scheduled Akoth's burial for October 17, but they remain torn between closure and their quest for accountability.
Just days after Akoth's murder, another killing struck Korando, barely a kilometer from the earlier incident.
On Wednesday night, September 30, 30-year-old Silas Onyango was being driven home by his wife, Phoebe Akinyi, along the Upper Kotetni area of Korando.
According to police reports, the couple was ambushed by two men on a motorcycle at around 8pm.
“They attacked without warning. They dragged him out of the car and kept stabbing him until he died on the spot,” Mrs Akinyi said.
Onyango suffered multiple stab wounds to the head, neck, chest, stomach, and arms.
His wife is said to have escaped unharmed. The attackers sped away into the night before help could arrive.
