What began as an ordinary Tuesday morning for Willy Otiende turned into a chilling discovery that has left residents of Manyatta B, Kisumu County, searching for answers.
Mr Otiende had stepped out to check on his pigs at his home when he realised that three of the animals were missing. One was due to be sold to a customer who had planned to slaughter it for pork.
With the customer waiting, he immediately embarked on a search, following one of the pigs towards a nearby drainage channel. A young boy who was helping him locate the animals directed him towards a small stream. But the pig kept changing direction, making it difficult to catch.
Mr Otiende eventually sought the help of a friend, asking him to block the animal’s escape route as they attempted to corner it.
Their search, however, took a disturbing turn when he spotted what appeared to be a pool of blood beneath a large eucalyptus tree. He called his friend over to help establish what had happened.
Willy Otiende recounts how he discovered the body while searching for his missing pigs in Manyatta B, Kisumu County, on November 3, 2026.
Photo credit: Domnic Ombok | Nation
“We followed where the blood was coming from. As we traced it, we found a dead chicken. But there was no visible trail showing that it had been dragged along the ground. That made me wonder whether the blood belonged to something else,” he recalled.
Curious about the source of the blood, the two moved closer to investigate.
What they found was far more disturbing than they had imagined: the body of a man, partially concealed near a septic tank. The discovery was made at around 8.30am.
According to Mr Otiende, the body had been dumped in a manner that made it difficult to spot from a distance, with only parts of the man's legs initially visible.
Police later established that the deceased had a deep cut to his throat and a visible head injury. He was wearing only underwear, with no trousers or other clothing.
The discovery of a dead chicken near the body has further deepened the mystery. Residents say nobody in the neighbourhood had reported losing a loved one. Some have raised suspicions that the killing could have involved ritual practices, although police have neither established the motive nor linked the chicken to the murder.
The gruesome discovery has also reignited concerns about insecurity in Manyatta B, where residents say incidents of assault and robbery have become increasingly common.
Mr Otiende accused security agencies of responding sluggishly to calls for help, saying residents had repeatedly raised concerns without receiving adequate intervention.
“How can such a brutal killing occur in an area regularly traversed by security officers?” He asked.
Another resident, Hussein Kibore, said the circumstances surrounding the killing had left the community deeply unsettled, particularly the extent of the injuries inflicted on the deceased.
“Looking at the way he was killed, it is something very strange. Some parts of his body appeared to have been removed,” he said.
A torch and a padlock were also recovered at the scene, prompting residents to speculate that the man could have been taken from a house before being killed and his body abandoned there.
Mr Kibore said residents had not reported hearing any commotion in the neighbourhood that could shed light on what transpired.
As residents grapple with unanswered questions and theories about the killing, police say their priority is establishing the identity of the deceased and reconstructing the events that led to his death.
Kisumu East Sub-County Police Commander Eveline Cherotich described the incident as a suspected murder, saying investigations were still at an early stage.
“He had a slit throat and a visible head injury. We believe he was killed elsewhere and his body dumped at the septic tank,” she said.
Ms Cherotich said investigators were pursuing the motive behind the killing but had yet to establish whether the torch recovered at the scene was connected to the incident.
She added that the deceased was not a local resident. The body was subsequently moved to Kisumu County Referral Hospital mortuary.
