Months later, the body of Simon Kimani (inset) was found lying in a morgue with a medical report indicating he had been admitted to hospital a day after the encounter with the strangers.
On the night of March 18, 2026, Simon Kimani, 29, and his friend Michael Ndonga, 26, were chewing muguka at a roadside spot in Ndugamano village, Murang'a County, when a white Toyota Probox screeched to a halt beside them.
What appeared to be an ordinary request for directions would become the beginning of a mystery that ended with one man dead and the other haunted by a narrow escape.
Mr Ndonga recalls that his first instinct was to flee, but the driver quickly put them at ease.
“Vijana, msiogope. Nataka mnielekeze mahali fulani (Young men, don't be afraid. I just want you to direct me to a place),” the driver called out.
The vehicle carried two other men in the back seat.
The driver handed Kimani two Sh200 notes and Kimani passed one to Mr Ndonga.
“It looked like an easy job. We had no reason to suspect anything,” Mr Ndonga told the Nation.
The driver instructed Ndonga to sit in the front passenger seat while Kimani got into the back between the two men.
The destination, they were told, was nearby Githagara Market.
But as the journey progressed, unease set in.
Ndonga says he noticed what appeared to be a pistol tucked into the driver's waistband.
“I looked at him carefully and his haircut looked official. The way he held the steering wheel looked official. He was wearing safari boots and everything about him made me think he was a security officer,” he said.
He then glanced at his friend in the back seat.
“Kimani was sandwiched between the two men. They stared at me without saying a word. They looked like statues. That was when I knew the Sh200 had landed us in trouble,” he narrated in an interview.
Convinced his life was in danger, Ndonga says he began plotting his escape and knowing the road ahead had potholes that would force the vehicle to slow down, he waited.
“When the speed dropped to about 20 kilometres per hour near two huge potholes, I opened the door, threw myself onto the road, rolled into the bushes and ran as fast as I could,” he recalled.
He says the Probox stopped a short distance away and someone shouted after him but he never looked back."
The following afternoon, worried about his missing friend, Ndonga went to Kahuro Police Station to report that Kimani had disappeared.
He says an officer advised him that a missing person's report could only be formally lodged after three days.
As he was leaving the station, however, he says he froze.
“The same Probox drove into the station and I locked eyes with the driver. It was the same man I had escaped from the previous night and for the for the second time in less than 24 hours, I ran,” he says.
That was the last known sighting linked to Mr Kimani before he disappeared without a trace.
The late Simon Kimani. His body was found at Muriranjas Hospital Mortuary four months after he disappeared.
Four months later, his family received a call asking them to identify a body at Muriranjas Hospital Mortuary.
Kimani’s sister Mercy Wangari, said they were shocked to find Kimani's body lying in the mortuary, heavily bandaged around the head.
Pinned to the body was a medical report indicating he had been admitted to Muriranjas Hospital on March 19, 2026, the day after he boarded the Probox.
“We asked who had brought him to the hospital and were told it was three police officers travelling in an official patrol vehicle,” Ms Wangari said.
Medical records indicated that Kimani had been admitted with multiple cuts to his hands and back before later dying from his injuries.
Ms Wangari said the family was left with more questions than answers.
While still at the mortuary, she received a telephone call from an unidentified person.
“The caller told us to stop asking questions and simply arrange for my brother's burial"
Police records seen by the Nation state that an unidentified injured man was picked up at Githagara Market with life-threatening injuries and taken to Muriranjas Hospital.
The report says he had no identification documents.
It further states that fingerprint analysis was later used to establish his identity, a process that took four months.
Mr Kimani was the last-born in a family of four.
His father died in 1997, three weeks before he was born, while his mother died in 2000 when he was three years old.
Having dropped out of school in Class Eight, he survived through casual jobs and, according to his family, occasionally turned to theft.
His sister said he had recently begun changing his ways.
“He had started showing signs of reforming before he disappeared,” she said.
To date, Ndonga says he has no intention of recording a formal statement with police.
“I know he was last seen in the company of armed men in that Probox. I also saw that same vehicle entering Kahuro Police Station. I consider myself a lucky survivor and I do not want to stir the waters any further,” he says adding he never managed to note down the vehicle's registration number during either encounter.
Murang'a County Police Commander Cleti Kimaiyo said investigations into the death remain open.
“We are investigating the matter and anyone with information that could help unravel the circumstances surrounding the death is encouraged to come forward,” he said.
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