Lawrence Kamau holding a portrait of his mother, Jackline Wangui, during an interview at their home in Langalanga Estate, in Nakuru Town East sub-County, on August 31, 2026.
At around 10am on August 14, Jackline Wangui Njoroge walked out of her home in Langalanga, Nakuru County, telling her family she would return the following day after completing her shift at work.
Wangui, who worked as a receptionist at Leopard View Hotel along Kanu Street, where she had worked for more than 10 years, told her children she was heading to a meeting before proceeding to work later in the day.
But she never returned.
Her son, Lawrence Kamau, said his mother normally arrived home in the morning after her shift. When she failed to show up on August 15, the family became worried.
Wangui was also known for regularly checking on her children, often calling home to find out how they were doing, and her sudden silence was therefore unusual.
Mr Kamau, 24, who lives in Maili Sita, travelled home to join his two siblings in tracing their mother.
Their first stop was her workplace, where they hoped her colleagues would shed light on her whereabouts. Instead, they were confronted with more questions.
According to Mr Kamau, his mother had reported to work as usual. At around 7pm, however, she received a phone call and moments later boarded a motorcycle and left the hotel.
Lawrence Kamau during an interview at their home in Langalanga Estate, in Nakuru Town East sub-County, on August 31, 2026.
She did not tell her colleagues where she was going or who had called her.
She also left behind her handbag and other belongings, carrying only her mobile phone.
CCTV footage from the hotel captured the motorcycle rider arriving, picking up Wangui and riding away with her.
For the family, the footage appeared to offer a crucial lead. They hoped the rider would help them trace the missing woman.
But when they confronted him and asked where he had dropped her, Mr Kamau said the rider could not provide satisfactory answers.
The family then involved the police.
The rider was briefly held as investigators sought to establish what had happened after he left the hotel with Wangui. He was later released after police said they had found no evidence linking him to her disappearance.
“My siblings told me she did not pass by after the meeting, so she went straight to work. We assumed maybe she was late. She was last seen at 7pm, while she was talking to someone on the phone. She boarded a motorbike and they left. We tried tracing her through the bodaboda rider, but he was not cooperative,” Mr Kamau said.
The family began a frantic search, visiting the homes of friends and other places where they thought Wangui might have gone. Nothing came of it.
As the days passed without a word from her, the family reported her disappearance at Bondeni Police Station under OB 13/16/08. They were later referred to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations for further investigations.
They turned to social media, circulating her photographs in the hope that someone might have seen her. They also visited several hospitals in Nakuru.
On August 26, the search took a grim turn.
A badly decomposed body was discovered in a bush at Kagoto Quarry after a herder who was tending his goats in the area detected a strong foul smell coming from a bushy section down a cliff.
According to a police report seen by the Nation, the herder moved closer to establish the source of the stench and discovered the body of an unidentified woman.
He immediately alerted the authorities.
Officers from Kiugoine Police Station and Kagoto Police Post, accompanied by detectives and Crime Scene Investigation officers, visited the scene.
The body was lying on its back and was in an advanced stage of decomposition. The woman was dressed in blue jeans, a red jumper and socks.
Lawrence Kamau and Michael Njuguna holding a portrait of Jackline Wangui during an interview at their home in Langanga Estate in Nakuru Town East sub-county on August 31, 2026. Wangui went missing on August 14, only for her badly decomposed body to be discovered in Kihoto quarry on August 26.
Her skull had been exposed, with much of the flesh decomposed, making identification at the scene difficult.
But detectives began tracing missing-person reports in the area.
Their investigations established that the woman had previously been reported missing in Nakuru East Sub-County.
The following day, August 27, the family received the news that a woman’s body had been found and they were required to go and identify it.
Mr Kamau’s uncle travelled to the Nakuru City Mortuary, where he identified the remains as those of Wangui, bringing to an end a nearly two-week search.
According to Mr Kamau, a postmortem examination established that Wangui died from strangulation. She had also suffered a broken rib.
Nakuru County Police Commander Samuel Boit said 11 witnesses, including members of Wangui’s family, had recorded statements with the DCI.
He said detectives were analysing CCTV footage obtained from the hotel as they sought to reconstruct her final movements.
“This was a well-coordinated murder incident. We have launched an investigation which is at an advanced stage and are following a crucial lead. We will also move to court to obtain a court order to be sent to Safaricom so that we can analyse phone data and establish who she was communicating with,” Mr Boit said.
The police are particularly interested in establishing who contacted Wangui shortly before she left the hotel and what happened to her afterwards.
Her brother, Michael Njuguna, called on detectives to speed up the investigation and apprehend those responsible for her death.
Instead of celebrating Wangui’s birthday on September 3, they will be preparing to bury her at their ancestral home in Kiambu County.
Lawrence Kamau holding a portrait of his mother, Jackline Wangui, during an interview at their home in Langalanga Estate, in Nakuru Town East sub-County, on August 31, 2026.
“It was heartbreaking to see her body in that state. She was the breadwinner in the family. After our mother passed away when I was young, she took it upon herself to raise me as her own child. We just want justice for her death,” Mr Njuguna said.
But even as the family prepares to lay her to rest, detectives are piecing together the final hours of her life.
A detective privy to the investigation told the Nation that on the morning she disappeared, Wangui travelled to Maili Sita, where she met her boyfriend.
The detective said Wangui had been planning to sell a piece of land which the boyfriend had agreed to buy. He had reportedly paid a Sh380,000 deposit, with an agreement to clear the balance within 90 days.
The two later went to an entertainment joint in Nakuru town, where they had several drinks before Wangui left to report to work.
According to the detective, she was already intoxicated when she returned to the hotel.
The detective said the boyfriend was later joined by another woman at the entertainment joint. When Wangui was informed, she returned to the premises.
“They all drank until around 10pm when she left. That was the last time she was seen alive. The boyfriend is at large,” the detective said.
Investigators are now seeking to establish what happened between the time Wangui left the entertainment joint and when her body was discovered nearly two weeks later at Kagoto Quarry.
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