They moved in to start their marital journey on August 9, 2026, at around 4pm, went out for three hours to celebrate their union and by 7.30pm, they were both dead.
Mr Patrick Mwangi, 28, and Jackline Wambui, 25, whose deaths left Nyerere village in Murang’a County in shock, had what residents now describe as the shortest-lived marriage in the village.
Police are investigating the deaths, which initially appeared to be a case of murder and suicide.
The two lovebirds are reported to have been in courtship for about three years, a period marked by turmoil during which they sought mediation countless times from their parents.
Mr Mwangi worked as a boda boda rider, while Ms Wambui was occasionally called in for casual jobs in the area.
According to Mwangi’s mother, Ms Bilha Wangare, she will never understand the kind of love relationship the two had.
“This was love that looked like a spell at work. Both exhibited passions about each other hard to comprehend. I had participated in numerous reconciliation sittings to help them forgive each other. I think the correct word for them is foolish lovers,” she told the Nation at her home.
She said she was not sure whether she was mourning the loss of her firstborn son and his woman or the strange love that had tormented the two until their deaths.
She said their differences were always about things that could have been avoided if they had exhibited maturity in their relationship.
The late Patrick Mwangi.
Photo credit: Pool
“They would quarrel about each not letting the other access his or her phone. The other time it would be about money. Wambui would complain that she was not being taken out for a treat as frequently as she desired. There was another time Mwangi complained that Wambui had stolen Sh100, 000 from his house. Wambui came complaining to me that Mwangi wanted to dump her because of the theft. It had reached a time I felt sick about their conflicts,” she said.
She added that there was a time Wambui complained that Mwangi was favouring his parents by supporting them too much financially, demanding that her parents be given top priority and a bigger share of the help.
“Starting 2026, she started demanding that Mwangi surrender to her the logbook of his motorcycle and also a title deed of a 0.1-acre piece of land that he had bought in Makuyu area of Maragua Constituency,” the mother said.
All this time, they were not living together but were dating, and they would occasionally spend a night or two in Mwangi’s small house.
To help them stabilise their relationship, Ms Wangare says she called the two lovebirds to a meeting on August 4, 2026, and recommended that they start living together as husband and wife so that they could take charge of their affairs.
“My son was hesitant. He was demanding that she first give birth to his baby. On the other hand, the woman was demanding that she first get the logbook and the title deed,” she said.
The compromise was that Mwangi would establish a business for her at the nearby Irembu shopping centre, which he agreed to, while she accepted that she would conceive as soon as possible.
“But my son waited until she had left that evening and handed me the logbook and the title deed, saying he did not trust Wambui. On the other hand, Wambui called me on August 6, and announced that she had decided to get married to Mwangi and would move in with him on August 9,” she said.
After a few minutes, Mwangi took Wambui on his motorcycle and drove out of the compound.
An undated photo of Patrick Mwangi, 28, and Jackline Wambui, 25. The Murang’a couple were both found dead hours after moving in together for a come-we-stay marriage in what police suspect to be a murder-suicide case.
Photo credit: Pool
“At around 7pm, they came back. Wambui looked drowsy and tired and had to be helped into the house. She looked tipsy. I went into the house to join my husband and two children. A few minutes later, Mwangi came into my house and chatted with us for a few minutes. He greeted all of us individually, each time saying goodbye. I sensed he was drunk. It was normal. I thought he meant goodnight. And out he went,” she said.
But before he left his parents’ house, Ms Wangare says Mwangi uttered the following words: “Imagine she has posted another man on her social media accounts and also sent me the photo on my phone, saying if I did not take good care of her, she would leave me for him.”
After those last words, which his mother says came out like a hiss, Mwangi slowly walked out of the house.
Ms Wangare says a strange feeling gripped her, a feeling she cannot explain.
“I took a flashlight and moved out… I called out his name. Silence. I called out the name of his wife. Silence met me. His house’s door was ajar. I thought he had gone to the toilet. I flashed the light towards the backside of his house… and there he was,” she said.
She screamed, and her husband, Mr Samuel Kimani, came out of the house. Neighbours soon flooded the compound.
Police were called and, after documenting the two scenes, took the bodies to Maragua Level Four Hospital mortuary.
Murang’a County Police Commander Cleti Kimaiyo said the deaths were being investigated, “though on face value it looks like a case of murder and suicide”.
However, he said investigators were open to pursuing any other emerging perspective should it arise.
Ms Wambui’s aunt, Ms Tabitha Njoki, said the family was astounded but content in the will of God.
“It is God who gave us this ambitious girl who was a mother of a five-year-old daughter… She had told me that she was moving in to get married… Little did I know she was going to be married for slightly over three hours… May God have mercy,” she said.
