Julius Mungai, 19, who was found murdered in Ha Kimotho village in Maragua Constituency on November 4, 2024.
Julius Mungai,19, had been spotted dancing in a Maragua nightclub at around 10 pm on November 3.
Later that night, he was seen walking --beer in hand-- in the company of two men who work as farmhands at an estate owned by a local tycoon .
He was found dead the following morning at Sofla, Ha Kimotho village in Maragua Constituency. The Form Three dropout from Maragua Secondary School in 2022 had a deep cut at the back of his neck, nearly severing the head. It is believed a machete was used as a weapon. But curiously, there was no blood on the scene, raising questions on whether he had been killed elsewhere or the killers had cleansed the scene.
On August 13, 2024, his cousin Mutua Ndambuki was also found murdered at the same spot with a similar cut in the same part of the body.
In a preliminary report on the case, Murang'a County Criminal Investigations Officer Obed Isanda indicates that "the man was murdered". The report also adds that he had a criminal past.
The two men last seen with the victim were arrested after a mob threatened to lynch them. "The two men who were last seen walking together with him are farm helps in a local tycoon's estate," the report says.
The only son of Mr Michael Nduati and Ms Nancy Kanini, Mungai leaves behind three sisters.
Mungai would sometimes be seen in Maragua town eking a living as a bodaboda rider and at other times, dealing in scrap metal.
Mr Nduati on Tuesday told Nation.Africa that the murder has distabilised his family a great deal "since the administration of my estate was entrusted to him as my only son".
A distraught Ms Kanini said: "If the murderer(s) knew the pain the death bring to my family, he would have been let to live. Instead, they would have demanded that his parents be called to the scene and placed a demand that would have kept my son alive.”
Mr Nduati said: "You only need to have your child...close relative... murdered to understand the pain that comes with it. This murder has struck the core of my family.”
Mr Isanda's report indicates the probable motives of the murder are varied, including a deal gone sour, revenge, gang punishment, robbery attack or execution.
"The deceased has also been in and out of jail in the recent past. He met his death just two months in freedom after serving a bhang-peddling conviction," Mr Isanda's report observes.
Record of crime
He is also recorded to have been a constant feature in local security committee's reports of troublemakers.
But another notable lead recorded in the report is that Mungai had confided to his friends that he was being threatened over a debt of Sh300 he owed the men he was last seen with.
Also recorded is a possibility that he had shortchanged some allies in the black market.
Suspected to be connected to narcotics' trade, the investigative report considers a situation where he might have been executed for cartel-related conflict.
As someone mentioned broadly as a suspect in local crime where several people have alleged to have been his victims, the angle of extrajudicial killing by rogue security agents or revenge execution comes to the fore.
Another lead is that of cultism where a theory of him being sacrificed has been floated. Those perpetuating this narrative point to the similarities with the cousin’s murder.
"This is strange given that the two related victims met their deaths in a replica of scene. This gives the investigations a challenge of looking at the coincidence and answer the question of how so," reads the Isanda report.
When the news of Mungai's murder broke out in the morning, some residents protested demanding speedy arrest of the two men he had last been seen with the previous night.
"Before we can even contemplate arranging for the body to be taken to the mortuary, we are supposed to first see the suspects here at the scene answering to how Mungai met his death," said Mr Joseph Mbira, a resident.
He observed that the scene had no blood spillage despite the machete inflicted injury.
"How can we have someone cut deep in the neck and there is no river of blood here? Where is his blood?” Mr Mbira posed.
It was when the residents started mobilising themselves to raid the tycoon’s plantation in search of the suspects that Murang'a South Deputy County Commissioner Mr Gitonga Murungi ordered the arrests of the two.
Police from Maragua police station arrested the two farmhands before the mob attack.
They were locked up at Maragua Police Station but the mobs followed them there causing a scare.
On July 10, 2024 irate residents of Gachocho village in Kigumo Sub County raided a nearby police patrol base and after stoning officers manning the facility, broke into the cells and killed a murder suspect.
On August 18, 2024, residents of Karung'e village in Mathioya sub-County raided a local patrol base after word spread that a murder suspect was being held there. After stoning the officers who fled, the mob broke into the cells only to find the suspect was not in custody.
The suspects were relocated to Murang'a South security headquarters at Kenol Police Station.
"We are on top of this incident...at least we have our leads right and all that is waiting is to compile our evidence so that we can start the process of seeking justice for the deceased," Mr Murungi said.
