Alice Njoki. Left, her daughter Esther Ruguru, who went missing in 2023.
Dear Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen,
Receive warm greetings from me, Alice Njoki, a 73-year-old Murang'a County woman ravaged by diabetes and hypertension since my daughter was abducted and disappeared without trace on July 1, 2023.
My daughter, Esther Ruguru, was 43 years old and used to run a small hotel at Kiria-ini town.
She was last seen on July 1, 2023 at around 6pm standing outside her closed hotel when a black car picked her up and sped off.
The DCI told me that her phone was switched off immediately she boarded that vehicle, but it is a lie. My daughter's phone was going through until noon of July 3, 2023, but the calls were not being picked up.
She is a daughter whose determination was to see me well catered for as her mother, who was widowed 24 years ago.
Sir, my daughter had also gotten married some 22 years ago. The marriage did not work out and she came back to my home with her three children and started the living as an independent single mother.
She left her marriage in 2015, and two years later, her husband committed suicide. That suicide made my daughter suffer depression; she sank into a guilt complex believing that had she stayed put in her difficult marriage, her husband might have been alive.
My daughter, Mr Waziri sir, disappeared in broad daylight, leaving behind two daughters and a son. The firstborn, a daughter, is at Maseno University, the second born, a son, is at Thika Technical Training College and the last born daughter is in Form Two at Kamahuha Girls High School in Maragua Constituency. I have since sold off part of my land to pay their school fees.
Sir, I am a mother of five—three sons and two daughters. One daughter is dead and the other is missing. My sons are struggling with no jobs and once in a while, they eat from my kitchen. It is the nature of life and I pray daily for them to get a breakthrough in life.
Mr Waziri, so much has been said regarding what might have contributed to my daughter going missing. I have read in the media that my daughter had multiple male lovers, she was in money laundering, and others saying that maybe it was a case of a deal going sour.
I will speak the truth to you sir so that you can be well informed to help me get my daughter back, in whatever state.
When my daughter came back to my home, as she searched for a lifeline to hold on to and especially get money to pay my bills and school fees for her children, several men came into her life.
These men, who she introduced to me as her friends, would visit my home and also bring shopping for me.
The ones I can testify before man and God that they were my daughter's partners are Boniface Macharia, Zablon Wambugu and Stanley Maina. All the three men were well known to me; they would visit my home freely and there are witnesses all over my Kiria village neighbourhood who can support my claim that these men were like my in-laws.
It is painful to make this confession about my missing daughter but my desperation to find her, dead or alive, leaves me with no alternative but to tell it all as it was.
My daughter had formed a pattern of going for a night out with Mr Maina every Saturday and she would come back home in the morning in time to accompany me to church.
The other two men who complained to me that my daughter was dilly-dallying with their love. To make it clear, as they spoke to me individually, I could tell the two were not aware that Ruguru was seeing both of them. The two were not aware that she was seeing Mr Maina and in turn, Mr Maina was not aware of the other two competitors.
Mr Waziri, the only remaining option is contacting you and this is the reason I want to be as truthful as possible so as to help you understand my dilemma and help me before my diabetes and hypertension snatches me to eternal rest.
Mr Murkomen, my daughter was on July 1, 2023 waiting for Mr Maina to take her to their usual love nest in Othaya town. She had confirmed to me that she would attend to the date and be home as usual the following morning.
She did not return home on Sunday and also on Monday and her phone was later switched off. Her hotel business remained closed. This alarmed me. I went to Kiria-ini police station and filed a missing person report vide OB No 07/04/07/23.
There is a police officer who on April 10, 2023 asked me to give him Sh5,000 so that he could show me where the body of my daughter had been dumped. I told him to show me the body first and I would make sure he got his pay. He told me that stupidity will kill me faster than old age.
Initially, the case has been assigned to a police officer by the name Momanyi and we were making good progress until the case was handed over to area Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
Mr Murkomen, the moment the case was taken over by the DCI, things started going slowly. The DCI boss in Mathioya Sub-county, Mr Muriithi Gitonga started dismissing us as a family of spreading rumours and hearsay.
Waziri, Mr Gitonga told us that he was investigating the case and would notify me if and when my daughter was found.
I offered to record a statement revealing these insights that I am sharing with you Waziri, but he turned me down. He told me and my sons that we were of no help to the case since we were not trained detectives.
Had he given me a chance to address him, I would have revealed to him that my daughter had revealed to me that there was a woman who had on June 18, 2023 visited her hotel and threatened her with dire consequences if she did not stop seeing Mr Maina.
That woman threatened her with dire consequences if she ignored the warning. My daughter did not heed to the warning and she is now missing.
There is a mechanic in Kiria-ini town by the name Tom who was very vocal on how my daughter had vanished. He appeared well informed since he even offered to drive us to some neighbouring mortuaries to identify her body.
He took us to mortuaries in Nyeri, Kirinyaga and Laikipia counties but we never found her. Waziri, I had since called Mr Maina seeking to know whether he had picked my daughter for the date. He told me that they never linked up since he had a road accident that saw him admitted to Kiria-ini Mission Hospital the same night. The hospital is only 300 metres from where he was to pick my daughter. This road accident and the hospitalisation might hold the key to where my daughter is.
On September 24, 2023 I had a gathering in my home seeking to raise some money for paying school fees for my three grandchildren. This is when Mr Wambugu delivered a speech that was shocking.
He publicly told us there that he had information that Ruguru might have been murdered and dumped in Chinga dam in Othaya Constituency. He said that some divers who had been called to retrieve the body of a pupil who had drowned in the dam had revealed to him that the body of Ms Ruguru was in the dam and had a huge rock tied to her using barbed wire.
Mr Murkomen sir, this is another aspect that can help us if we received impartial military divers to help us confirm the claim. My heart is now at peace knowing that my case is now in good hands and my daughter will be found in whatever state so that I can, when my turn comes, depart for the grave in peace.
Yours faithfully,
Alice Njoki
PS: This letter was dictated by Ms Njoki in Gikuyu and translated to English by advocate Kariuki Mwangi.
The investigations file – What the police, persons of interest say:
Mathioya DCI boss Muriithi Gitonga confirms that after Ms Ruguru was reported missing, he recorded statements from the mechanic and her three lovers.
All the four men denied any links with Ruguru's disappearance.
The detective said the case is classified as Pending Under Investigations (PUI).
Mr Maina told Nation.Africa that it is true he was to pick Ms Ruguru for an outing but the date did not materialise. “Yes we had plans to meet and go to Othaya town but I had an accident that saw me hospitalised the same night,” he said.
Mr Macharia confirmed to the Nation that he was once dating Ms Ruguru “but for the past six months prior to her disappearance we had agreed to go separate ways”. He said he is also waiting eagerly to know what happened to her.
Mr Wambugu said he was not willing to engage the media about his public utterances that Ms Ruguru was most likely inside Chinga dam.
"I said that in a family gathering and I was contributing to the search for the missing Ruguru. I don't want to commit myself to a discussion outside the family circles," he said.
