On the night of Friday May 8 2026, Richard Riang’a Kiage was scrolling through Facebook when he came across a short video clip speaking about how girls and women should carry themselves.
The first thing that came to his mind was the thought of sharing the clip with his eldest daughter Alice Riang’a, a second year student at the Jaramogi Odinga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST), like he always did. He forwarded the video clip.
This time however, unknown to him, the message failed to reach the receiver.
The video clip was undelivered since the 20 year-old’s phone was offline. Unknown to Mr Riang’a, his second born child was already dead. The following morning, the message was still undelivered. The delay however did not ring a bell to the father who went on with his daily activities.
“Usually, whenever I send her such clips, she would appreciate the fact that I am concerned about her wellbeing. While she failed to reach out, I had assumed that she may have run out of data,” says Mr Riang’a.
Come evening, he received a call from his first-born son inquiring when he had last spoken to his younger sister. His son went ahead to break the news that he received calls from Alice’s campus friends that she had been missing since the previous day.
He shared the contacts of her roommate who had reached out with the information for further details.
“I called her roommate Kayla Wanyonyi who confirmed that my daughter, also her classmate, had been missing since Thursday. Her phone was also switched off,” says Mr Riang’a.
By the following morning, there was still no news about Alice, Mr Riang’a would ask Kayla to file a missing person report at Bondo Police Station, Siaya County.
He then made travel arrangements and left his home in Nairobi that evening and headed to JOOUST. On his way, Mr Riang’a kept praying that his daughter was safe wherever she was.
“I arrived in Bondo on Monday morning and went to the police station with the OB number I had received from her roommate. At the station, the police confirmed that they had received the report and launched investigations.
They proceeded with the investigating officers to Alice’s room where a number of students were interrogated alongside the roommate. On their way back to the station, the investigating officers received a call informing them of a body of a young woman which had been retrieved from a nearby forest.
The body, according to the caller, had been taken to Bondo Sub-county Hospital Mortuary on Saturday but had not yet been identified.
“We arrived at the morgue only to identify the remains as that of my daughter,” said Mr Riang’a while fighting back tears.
“That is the moment I gave up on ever meeting my daughter alive,” he says.
During an interview, Mr Riang’a revealed that he last saw his daughter during Easter holidays when she travelled home to celebrate with the entire family.
Her stay was however brief. Alice had informed the family that she had to travel back to campus and prepare for a continuous assessment test. The 20-year-old remained in touch with her family while her father says they last spoke on May 4 2026.
Alice had called to check on her family’s well-being and to remind her father that her rent was due on May 10. She also requested her father to top up her pocket money.
Two days later, on Wednesday evening, Alice had also been in touch with her mother. She had called as usual to know how she was doing. She had also asked her mother to send her money to buy sweet potatoes which she had been craving.
The deceased went ahead to request her mother to allow her to speak to her younger sister when she got home that evening.
“She called an hour later but her mother was not yet home. When she finally arrived around 7.00 pm, Alice's phone had been switched off,” says the deceased father who alleges that his daughter is likely to have gone missing on Wednesday evening.
The following morning, Alice's phone was still switched off.
According to the Bondo Sub-County Police Commander Robert Aboki, the deceased's remains were found last Saturday at a forest in Barkowino, Bondo, by women who had gone to fetch firewood.
Mr Aboki also confirmed that the deceased’s boyfriend, Maximillian John Madeni, a gold dealer from Tanzania, has since been arrested in connection to the murder.
“He was the last person to call the deceased moments before she went missing, he is currently held in our cells and is aiding investigations,” he said.
During an interview, the deceased roommate Kayla who had briefly travelled home for a week said she came back on Thursday to find an empty house. She tried to reach Alice but her phone was already switched off.
She yet again tried calling the Bachelor of Education Science student the following morning but her phone was still switched off. Meanwhile, her classmates had proceeded to sit an exam without her.
Kayla had then notified her close friends of the new developments. They would then proceed to designing posters of a missing person which were placed at different points at the university.
The roommate also said that before she left for home last Thursday, Alice had been fine. She had however not revealed any details about the Tanzanian boyfriend.
Another friend who sought anonymity said Alice was last seen on campus on Wednesday evening while headed to Bondo Town. Her friend had gone ahead to lend her bus fare.
Yesterday, the JOOUST students demonstrated in Bondo town, demanding the arrest of the Tanzanian gold dealer who had been identified by Alice friends.
Alice, a second born in a family of five children has been described by her father as a disciplined and hardworking girl. Mr Riang’a has now appealed to the government to ensure the person (s) involved in his daughter’s death are brought to book.
“For how long will we continue losing our young children? The young girls and boys are the future leaders and need to be protected. A number of parents struggle to raise their children only for their young lives to be lost suddenly,” said Mr Riang’a.
