Jacqueline Wangui Gichuru, 19, went missing on October 25, 2024 and her body later found in Mathioya River.
Intrigues surround investigations into how Jacqueline Wangui, a Form Four student at Kamacharia Girls High School, ended up dead in Mathioya River.
Wangui, 19, was to start sitting her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education on November 4, 2024, but it was not to be. Instead, she will be buried on November 6, 2024, at Kairo village in Mathioya Constituency.
According to an investigative brief by Murang'a County Criminal Investigations Officer Obed Isanda, the cause of death is yet to be established.
This is despite a postmortem examination on her body being done at Kiria-ini Mission Hospital on November 1, 2024.
The postmortem report indicates that "the autopsy was not conclusive and blood and tissue samples are to be taken to the government laboratory for further analysis to establish the cause of death".
The report indicates "the head, lungs and stomach had a lot of fluids".
It also adds that more toxicology, the branch of science concerned with the detection of poisons, and histology, the study of the microscopic structure of tissues, tests are required to determine with more accuracy how she died.
To that end, mouth and other swabs were taken as well as blood samples, selected tissue and stomach contents for onward delivery to the government laboratory for analysis.
According to Mr Isanda's brief, the deceased was picked up from school by her grandmother, Martha Wangui on October 25, 2024.
"The reason given by the school is that the student had a health-related condition, the reason her grandmother was called to take her home for medical attention," the DCI report reads.
Paying school fees
The deceased was under the care of her grandmother after her parents separated a decade ago.
"Of the three children in the family of Mr Joseph Gichuru and Warukira Gichuru, the deceased was adopted by her grandmother while the others were taken in by an aunt," the report adds.
The report further indicates that after the parents separated.
"The father married another woman while the mother got married to another man, leaving the deceased under the care of her grandmother who has been paying her school fees," the report reads.
The report adds that the profiling of her family troubles was necessary in the search of the motive behind the death.
The report indicates that under investigation are theories that she was murdered and dumped in the river or, she committed suicide.
More intriguing is that when her grandmother picked up the supposedly sick girl from school, she did not take her to hospital.
"The two went straight home and there is no record of any medical examination or treatment," the DCI records state.
The girl is reported to have taken longer to wake up and at 10am, her grandma checked in her bedroom to see what was amiss only to find her missing.
"On October 29, 2024, her body was found floating in the river a distance from her grandmother's house," the report reads.
Decomposing body
The body that had started to decompose was taken to Kiria-ini Mission Hospital mortuary.
The discovery of her body immediately ushered in speculations that led to Mathioya sub-County Police Commander Paul Karobia promising thorough investigations to establish the cause of death.
"We will do all possible to speed up investigations and put this matter to rest. I promise that justice shall be served if it ends up that she died in the hands of ill-motivated actors," Mr Karobia said.
As investigations drag on towards the second week, speculations still abound; the postmortem's failure to attribute the most probable cause of death.
The deceased's mother said: "I had remained close with my daughter even after I separated with her father and it pains to be called upon to bury her."
"I am sorry that my family has not held together but God understands and will console us regardless of the challenges," she added.
Mr Gichuru, the father, said he too had remained close to his daughter and communicated a lot on the phone.
"There are reasons why my family had run into the challenge of separation. I know it might have affected her...God will give her eternal peace," he said.
Her grandmother said: “She was obedient, soft spoken, religious and ambitious...I was expecting her to do well and join the university."
"I feel the loss and if there is someone who urgently wants to know how she moved from my house alive to be found dead in a river, that person is me," she added.
