A heavy cloud of sorrow still lingers at Taragonik Village in Molo Sub-county, where whispers of betrayal linger in the wind, months after a trusted farm hand allegedly turned on his elderly employers, brutally ending their lives and dumping their bodies in a manhole within the very compound they called home.
Pastor Pius Machogu Nyantika, 72, a retired accountant and preacher with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and his wife, Jerusha Kwamboka Machogu, 70, a retired teacher, were reported missing from their home.
The couple had been seen in church on Saturday, September 13, as was their routine. But by evening they had vanished without a trace. Cows mooed restlessly through the night, as if sensing the horror that had unfolded.
The neighbours grew suspicious after spotting livestock grazing unattended in the compound the following day. The gate was locked and calls to the couple went unanswered.
The silence unsettled neighbours, with some jumping over the wall to gain entry into the compound.
Inside, they found the Caesar Juma Wanyama, the farmhand, cooking Ugali as if nothing had happened.
The farmhand claimed that the couple had travelled but their phones were on the table. He was pressed for answers.
He told neighbours that they had supper together on Saturday night but the couple left without informing him their whereabouts. A search was conducted inside the house and within the compound.
Hours later, the unimaginable was confirmed, the bodies of the couple were discovered inside an 80-metre-deep manhole within their compound. Jerusha’s was first to be cited and retrieved.
The retrieval of Machogu’s body was delayed until Monday morning due to rising water levels in the manhole. The bodies were moved to the Elburgon Subcounty mortuary.
Members of the public carry one of the bodies retrieved from a manhole where late Pius Machogu Nyantika and his wife, Jerusha Kwamboka Machogu, were dumped at Taragonik village in Ndoswa Location in Mariashoni, Molo Sub-County on September 15, 2025.
Photo credit: John Njoroge| Nation Media Group
Before the couple’s brutal murder, tension had been brewing in the household, between Wanyama and the house help who was allegedly pregnant.
Machogu, a businessman who was based in Nairobi, had to travel to Nakuru on Friday, September 12. His intention was to reconcile the two. Unknown to him, he was walking to his death trap.
After reconciling the two—or at least what he believed to have been a successful mission—he paid them their salaries and they all retired to bed.
By Saturday morning the house girl had vanished. She seized an opportunity to flee when Juma left to milk the cows, escaping to Nairobi.
An autopsy which was conducted by the government pathologist Dr Titus Ngulungu at the Elburgon sub county hospital, revealed that Machogu died due to internal bleeding while Ms Kwamboka was due to suffocation.
Machogu had a fracture on the head after he was hit with a jembe. He also had five deep cuts on the head and bruises on the left side of the body as the suspect dragged him on the ground before throwing the body to the borehole.
Jerusha suffered a spine injury and in both, their ribs were broken.
Mr Jonah Kiprotich Komen, Senior Chief of Ndusu Location, recalled the moment he received the distressing news from Nyumba Kumi and village elders.
“On that day I received information that something terrible had happened. I was told the elderly couple had been killed and their bodies dumped in a manhole. By the time I arrived, officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations had already moved the bodies to mortuary,” he recalled
According to Mr Komen, investigations pointed to the couple’s farm hand, who had worked at the home for barely one month. He had been employed to look after livestock.
Unknown to his employers, he allegedly had a troubled past and had previously assaulted local administrators in another region before relocating to Nakuru.
He allegedly attacked Pastor Machogu first, hitting him on the head before throwing his body into the manhole. He then turned on Jerusha, forcing her to surrender cash, ATM cards and PIN numbers.
The portraits of the late Pius Machogu Nyantika, 72 and his wife, Jerusha Kwamboka Machogu, 70.
Photo credit: Pool
Detectives later established that an attempt had been made to withdraw money, but one digit of a PIN had reportedly been omitted.
“The house help was traced to Nairobi. She later told investigators that Juma had threatened her, demanding that she agree to marry him or face death. She said that before leaving, she warned her employer that the farm hand was dangerous. It was a tragic incident. The two were wiped out. The old man was hit and thrown him into the manhole, and the wife was thrown in while alive. She died a painful death,” he said.
According to Mr Komen, the Machogus had built a quiet life after retirement.
Pastor Machogu had worked as an accountant with Telkom before venturing into business in Nairobi. Jerusha turned to farming, supplying maize to local schools.
In Gongongeri, they were known as generous and devout neighbours who supported church construction and community initiatives.
Chief Komen now urges residents to be vigilant when hiring domestic workers and farm hands, noting that the area’s cosmopolitan nature has made it a hideout for individuals fleeing crimes elsewhere.
He said that local administrators have since tightened vetting measures, collecting identification details and liaising with chiefs from workers’ home areas to enhance tracking.
“They were good neighbours, kind and social people who helped many. I just plead with residents, if you employ someone, make sure he or she passes through the chief’s office. If we had received his particulars early enough, maybe we could have arrested him before the crime. We hope the justice system will do its work,” he said.
Residents at the homestead of the late Pius Machogu Nyantika, 72, and his wife, Jerusha Kwamboka Machogu, 70, at Taragonik village in Ndoswa Location in Mariashoni, Molo Sub-County on September 15, 2025.
Photo credit: John Njoroge| Nation Media Group
The couple’s son Chris Ayenda, who was in Nairobi at the time, said that a neighbour called to report that the cows had been left unattended in the fields, an unusual occurrence for the disciplined household.
He said that, alarmed, he contacted his brother, who had been assisting their parents with farm work, who got in touch with Wanyama, the farmhand.
According to Ayenda, the worker appeared unusually calm and dismissive. He insisted that everything was fine and claimed the roaming cows belonged to neighbours.
What the family did not know at the time was that their parents had already been killed and their bodies dumped in a manhole within the compound.
Ayenda said the house help had been hired first, and Wanyama joined the household later. Over time, the two developed a relationship that resulted in a pregnancy.
They learnt from their mother that the house help wanted to terminate it, but the man allegedly insisted she keep the child and is said to have threatened her with a panga.
On the Saturday morning before the killings, Ayenda said his mother had informed his sister that the house help had mysteriously disappeared.
The farmhand reportedly woke up, milked the cows and told the elderly couple that she was nowhere to be seen.
They proceeded to church as usual. It was later, after they returned home, that the brutal killings occurred. Recalling the chilling sequence of events, Ayenda said the suspect had even laughed during phone conversations, long after he had allegedly committed the crime.
“It is so unfortunate that good people were slaughtered like animals. They are no more; we just need justice. The tragic deaths have left the family shattered and a community struggling to come to terms with the betrayal that unfolded behind closed gates,” he said.
Detectives sought more days to hold the suspect in order to complete the investigation, escort the suspect for mental assessment and others. The court granted the investigators 21 days, and the miscellaneous file closed.
The hearing has not yet kicked off. The last appearance in court was on February 23, for a bond ruling, during which the court denied him bond. The next appurtenance is on May 6, 2026.
