“The cause of death of Hannah Wanjiku Kiiru was not suicide. It was murder. She was strangled with force, breaking her trachea and cutting off oxygen to the brain. The broken spine had no blood clots, confirming that the folding occurred long after her organs had collapsed,” said Dr Abraham Njoroge, the Murang’a Level Five Hospital pathologist.
The pathologist explained that, after her death, her body had been left unattended for over six hours before being folded in half at the waist, breaking her spinal cord in the process. He added that this folding appeared to have been done to make it easier for the killers to package her body up like a parcel for delivery.
He further observed that her body showed no signs of struggle, suggesting that more than one assailant was involved, with one or more restraining her while another strangled her. Samples were taken for further analysis to determine whether she had been sedated before being killed.
“Other than the broken trachea and fractured spine, no additional injuries were noted, and there was no evidence of sexual assault,” he said.
The late Hannah Wanjiku Kiiru, whose body was delivered to Kangare Police Station by a taxi driver on September 23, 2025, wrapped as a parcel.
Photo credit: Pool
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), in their preliminary probe, say the suspected motive for the killing could be linked to a marital dispute, cultism, a love triangle or malicious crime.
The deceased’s husband, aged 60, who works as a casual labourer, had recently moved out of their matrimonial home in Mairi village and started living with another woman in a nearby rental house.
This development had prompted Ms Wanjiku to leave their home and rent a separate room in Njiiris village in protest of her husband’s relationship.
Investigators also noted that she had recently converted to the Akurinu faith, a move they are exploring as a possible source of conflict.
Family inheritance is another angle being probed. Ms Wanjiku had earlier left three of her children in the care of her parents in Kamukabi village before marrying and having three more children with her husband.
Kigumo Sub-County Police Commander Hassan Bashir confirmed that four male suspects are in custody and assisting with investigations. He added that a murder case will soon be filed in court.
“The suspects in custody include the deceased’s husband, the taxi driver and two neighbours. Two sons of the deceased who had earlier been arrested have since been released after detectives found no evidence linking them to their mother’s murder,” he said.
Police believe that Ms Wanjiku was murdered on the night of September 23, 2025. Her body was delivered to Kangari Police Station on September 24 at around 9pm.
The taxi driver, in his statement, said he was handed the parcel at about 7.20pm while operating along the Makomboki–Kangari route. He claimed he was instructed to deliver it to Kangari town for onward transport to Nairobi.
He said the man who hired him, described as wearing a hood, paid him Sh500 and helped load the 55-kilo parcel onto the vehicle before disappearing.
When no recipient showed up in Kangari town, the driver became suspicious and decided to take the parcel to the police station.
“At first, I thought it was just an uncollected delivery, but when I noticed the weight, the smell, and realised I hadn’t taken any contacts, I decided to hand it over to police for safe keeping,” he said.
At the station, officers noted that the package was unusually heavy, emitted a foul smell, and attracted flies. Upon unwrapping it, they discovered the body of a woman in a red dress. It had been wrapped in three blankets, assorted clothing—including a blazer with the Gatanga Secondary School logo—and stuffed into two white sacks.
Police transferred the body to Githumu Hospital mortuary pending identification and post-mortem. The taxi driver was also arrested as a suspect to aid further investigations.
The deceased’s brother-in-law, Charles Muikia, told the Daily Nation that the family is satisfied with the speed and direction of the investigations. “We remain optimistic that justice shall be served for our loved one, who will be laid to rest on October 3, 2025,” he said.
Mr Muikia added that the family had agreed that Hannah’s father would bury her as her husband—currently in custody—had never paid dowry in the 24 years he had lived with her. “We have lost a humble woman whose peaceful nature outweighed her weaknesses. She was a kind soul,” he said.
