Rebecca Wanzala displays a photo of her missing husband, Fortune Muthina Kinyanzui, in Kitengela town on April 8, 2026.
A fake police signal, suspected insider leaks, and a brazen extortion scheme targeting the family of a kidnapped Kitengela businessman have dramatically complicated investigations, deepening the family’s anguish barely hours after they went public about his disappearance.
Fortune Muthina Kinyanzui, 34, was captured on Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras being forced out of his saloon car by three masked men on Thursday, March 26, 2026, around 5:56 pm within Kitengela township.
However, on Thursday afternoon, after Daily Nation highlighted his story, Kinyanzui’s wife, Ms Rebecca Wanzala, was summoned to the Kitengela Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) office around 4 pm with what appeared to be good news, that her husband had been found alive, not knowing she was falling into the fraudsters’ dragnet.
According to the police signal, which later turned out to be fake and was seen by Daily Nation, Mr Kinyanzui had allegedly been found in Turkana County on Thursday.
"...it was reported by one Mr Stephen Lutto of phone 0724****56, a male adult aged 45 yrs, that he heard a lot of noise from his neighbouring house around 0500 hrs today morning. He woke up and went to the neighbour’s house and found the door closed. He heard the noise becoming worse, pushed the door, and found a man lying on the floor and bleeding, unknown to him," the report stated.
The report further read: “He rushed to the police station and made a report of the same. The police officers rushed to the scene and processed it. He was rushed to the hospital for medication. He was identified as Fortune Kinyanzui from Kitengela area... Case PUI. Kindly help us trace the relatives within that jurisdiction... Other steps to follow."
On Thursday evening, Daily Nation reached out to Isinya Sub-County Criminal Investigation Officer (SCCIO) Wanga Masake, who confirmed that Mr Kinyanzui had been found, relying on the signal, and that efforts were being made to bring him to Kitengela Police Station for a reunion with family members.
At the police station, according to Ms Wanzala’s account of events, a police officer who introduced himself as the Lodwar Sub-County Police Commander requested Sh8, 000 to facilitate Mr Kinyanzui’s medical attention.
"The purported senior police officer on call requested me to send Sh8, 000 via a paybill to facilitate my husband’s treatment. He turned down my request to speak to him, saying he was in bad shape after torture. I did not read any sinister motive, considering I was in a police station," said Ms Wanzala.
The Daily Nation has obtained a money transfer record via M-Pesa sent via paybill on April 9, 2026, at 4:29 pm.
"I was anxious, waiting for a reunion with my husband until midnight, when I was informed by the very DCI officers that the police signal was fake," said Wanzala.
"Despite the two weeks’ pain searching for my husband, I have fallen into the hands of fraudsters — in the hands of police officers who are supposed to protect me."
Isinya Sub-County Criminal Investigation Officer (SCCIO) Wanga Masake told Daily Nation that the purported signal had been sent directly to a DCI officer at Kitengela Police Station, but, after due diligence, they later realised it was fake and meant to extort the family.
"After due diligence, we realised the signal had not followed the usual police signal dispatch channels. The person who generated the signal must have been privy to the developments," said Mr Wanga, who exonerated his junior from any wrongdoing.
“The officer failed to conduct due diligence after receiving the signal, but it can happen, especially when you receive such from your superior."
Rebecca Wanzala displays a photo of her missing husband, Fortune Muthina Kinyanzui, in Kitengela town on April 8, 2026.
Mr Wanga said investigations are at an advanced stage to identify the individuals recorded on CCTV cameras abducting the businessman.
In another bizarre ripple effect of the unsolved abduction, in a phone conversation in possession of Daily Nation, the missing businessman’s male relative is heard trying to convince Ms Wanzala to surrender the husband’s vehicle, currently detained at Kitengela Police Station, for a soft loan to bail him out from his tormentors, whom he purported to be police officers.
"A senior police officer knows where he is (Kinyanzui) being held incommunicado. They want Sh20, 000 facilitation to the secluded place. You will be able to speak to him as we negotiate for his freedom," the relative said before the duo disagreed and disconnected the call.
According to occurrences captured on CCTV cameras seen by Daily Nation at a business premises near where Kinyanzui was picked up on that fateful evening:
At 5:50 pm, Kinyanzui’s saloon car was captured exiting from Namanga Highway opposite Enkale Club onto a rough road, at least 20 minutes after reportedly leaving his house, according to his wife’s account.
At 5:51 pm, a white double-cabin vehicle that appeared to have been trailing him was captured blocking him. Three men wearing masks alighted from the double cab in a huff and were recorded trying to force the driver’s door open to no avail.
Rebecca Wanzala displayed a photo of her missing husband, Fortune Muthina Kinyanzui, in Kitengela town on April 8 2026.
A standoff ensued for a further two minutes before Kinyanzui’s driver’s door was yanked open. At that moment, Kinyanzui was recorded arguing briefly with the men before he was pulled out of his car.
Around 5:55 pm, the men were captured handcuffing Kinyanzui, who was resisting but was seemingly subdued and thereafter forced into the rear seat of the double cab, sandwiched between two of his tormentors who boarded from different rear doors.
The vehicle was then recorded speeding off by 5:56 pm. The vehicle registration number was not clear from the recording.
According to the police report, coinciding with eyewitness accounts obtained by Daily Nation, the vehicle was abandoned with the driver’s door open and the engine still running.
Mr Kinyanzui’s abduction took place a few metres away from the spot where four young men christened the "Kitengela Four" were similarly abducted by unknown individuals posing as police officers in April 2021, only for their bodies to later be recovered in a river in Murang’a County, stashed in gunny bags, shocking the country. The quartet’s saloon car had been abandoned at the parking lot, and their phones had switched off.
On Wednesday afternoon, when Daily Nation visited the family at their rental house within Njenga Place in Kitengela Township, Kinyanzui’s wife, Rebecca Wanzala, 27, sat on the couch holding her missing husband’s printed photograph in tears — a male relative sat beside her trying to calm her down.
"It's not well for me and our two children. The firstborn has been spending sleepless nights waiting for his dad to come back home. It’s a very painful ordeal," said Wanzala.
During the interview, her cold gaze signifies the emptiness that has engulfed the house for the past two weeks since the head of the home was picked up by unknown individuals.
A pair of sports shoes Kinyanzui previously wore still lay at the doorstep, dirt-stained.
Rebecca Wanzala peers inside her missing husband's vehicle, which is being held at Kitengela Police Station on April 8, 2026.
Three of his baseball caps lay on one couch, and a Liverpool Football Club banner — his favourite team, according to his wife — hung loosely on the wall.
Ms Wanzala said that on that fateful evening, her husband stepped out of the house around 5:30 pm for a leisurely drive within the town, as usual, after work. The couple runs a water purification outlet in Kitengela town for a living.
She said she became alarmed around 8 pm when her husband failed to return, considering he was supposed to travel to his rural Makindu home in Makueni County for a pool table business the following day.
She called him, but his phone had been switched off, sending cold shivers down her spine.
Around 10 pm, she left the house for Mlolongo town in Machakos County, at least 15 kilometres from Kitengela, searching for him in clubs he frequented. No one had spotted him.
On Friday, March 27, she made a missing person report vide OB No. 77 at Kitengela Police Station, only later to be informed that her husband’s missing grey saloon car had been towed to the same police station after it was reported abandoned while the engine was still running on Thursday evening, March 26.
The car is currently detained at Kitengela Police Station as one of the centres of interest in ongoing investigations.
The couple runs a water purification outlet within Kitengela town.
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