A mother is suspected of killing her 10-year-old daughter and then ending her own life by suicide in a Laikipia forest, leaving a note detailing how she wanted them buried.
The body of 36-year-old Jane Muthoni was found dangling from a tree in Ngare Ndare Forest on Saturday, December 21, while her daughter's body lay on the ground a few metres away, neatly wrapped in a lesso.
On Friday, mother and daughter had travelled more than 200km from Nairobi only to end up dead within hours.
Police have yet to establish how the young girl, Terry Wambui, died, but suspect her mother may have suffocated her with a lesso as the body had no physical injuries and there were no signs of poisoning.
"A herder found the two bodies in the forest and reported it to the police. When we visited the scene, we found the bodies, several personal belongings including a phone, a Bible and two notebooks, one of which contained the suicide note," said Laikipia East Sub-county Police Commander John Tarus.
Mr Tarus revealed that among the wishes listed in one of the notebooks were that her funeral rites be conducted by a rabbi (a Jewish priest) in a private ceremony and that her final resting place be at her former husband's homestead in Kiambu County.
Although separated, Muthoni's suicide note indicated that her former husband and her daughter's father should lead the burial preparations and that he should not be asked to pay any dowry before the bodies were released to him.
Close family members who travelled to Nanyuki from Nairobi after learning of the incident told police that Ms Muthoni, an orphan raised by her grandmother (now deceased) in Ngenia village, Laikipia County, was a devout Catholic but later became a follower of some strange religious groups when she moved to Nairobi to work.
"Embracing the strange religion cost her her job, as she spent days attending religious meetings. It was this commitment to the new found religious sect that led to the end of her marriage," a close relative told police.
The relative added that soon after joining the religious sect, Ms Muthoni developed strange behaviour and had attempted suicide twice in the past, prompting relatives to take her to Mathari Mental Hospital in April this year.
Ms Muthoni was discharged from the psychiatric hospital three months later and lived in solitary confinement until her death, with relatives unaware of where she and her daughter were living.
Her confinement to the psychiatric hospital may have angered her as she complained in her suicide note of being treated as an "outcast" by her relatives, police said.
