The call that triggered the search for Joy Kanini Gathu came from her boyfriend, who expressed concern for her safety.
Last Thursday, June 11, John Muriithi, popularly known as Tizo, telephoned the family of the 25-year-old shoe vendor to report that he had not seen or heard from her for days.
Concerned, he said he had already reported her missing to the police and urged her father, Reverend Peter Gathu Kanyua of Gospel Celebration Church, to accompany him to Nyeri Central Police Station.
Joy Kanini's father, Reverend Peter Gathu, addresses journalists outside the Nyeri County Referral Hospital morgue on June 16, 2026.
Photo credit: Mercy Mwende | Nation
What began as a routine missing person report soon unravelled into one of Nyeri's most disturbing murder investigations, placing the very man who raised the alarm at the centre of police inquiries.
Just two days earlier, Reverend Kanyua had met his daughter in Nyeri town. Joy had accompanied her mother on errands, and although her parents had hoped she would return home with them to Lamuria in Kieni Constituency, she had declined.
"I told her that we missed her and wanted her to visit us soon. Before we parted ways, she promised that she would," Reverend Kanyua recalls.
Joy Kanini, whose body was found dismembered and stuffed in a sack on June 11, 2026 at Ngangarithi Estate, Nyeri county.
Photo credit: Mercy Mwende | Nation
When Muriithi called on Thursday afternoon, Reverend Kanyua says something immediately felt unusual. According to him, the boyfriend claimed he had last seen Joy two days earlier, yet he was only reporting her disappearance then.
"We agreed to meet the following day at Nyeri Central Police Station where he said he had already filed a missing person report," he said.
The two men sat side by side at the station for several hours, seeking assistance from officers.
Locals gather around a six-foot pit latrine in Ngangarithi Estate, where part of Joy Kanini’s dismembered body was recovered on the evening of June 16, 2026.
Photo credit: Mercy Mwende | Nation
While they were there, Reverend Kanyua said that they overheard the police discussing an unidentified body that had been found that morning.
"But Muriithi reassured me that he had seen it and confirmed it was not Joy," he said.
Unknown to the family, detectives had recovered a human torso stuffed inside a sack and dumped near the perimeter fence of a hostel compound in Ngangarithi Estate, the same compound where Muriithi lived.
During the discussions at the police station, another detail caught the attention of Reverend Kanyua.
John was carrying Joy's mobile phone, but the SIM card was missing.
When questioned, John allegedly claimed that Joy had removed the SIM card herself before leaving.
The situation became even more puzzling when the detectives requested Joy's identification details. Muriithi said that her driving licence was still at his house and offered to retrieve it.
He stepped outside the station, ostensibly to make a phone call, but he never returned.
His disappearance prompted investigators and family members to revisit what they had initially dismissed: the unidentified body lying at the Nyeri County Referral Hospital's mortuary.
A firefighter washes down a demolished six-foot pit latrine at Ngangarithi Estate, where some of Joy Kanini’s dismembered body parts were found stuffed in black polythene bags.
Photo credit: Mercy Mwende | Nation
Accompanied by police officers, Reverend Kanyua went to view the remains.
"The body had no head, arms or legs, but there was a birthmark on the chest that looked exactly like my daughter's. It appeared as if someone had tried to tamper with it," he said.
That evening, detectives recovered additional body parts of Joy’s lower limbs wrapped in black polythene bags and discarded a short distance from where the torso had been found.
On Tuesday, investigators searched Muriithi’s one-bedroom hostel room and found black polythene bags, a blood-stained mattress, and blood-stained clothing.
Residents had previously complained about a foul smell coming from a pit latrine located approximately 20 metres from the building.
When the latrine was opened and searched, detectives recovered Joy's feet and arms, also wrapped in black polythene bags. A bag containing medication was found alongside the remains.
By Wednesday evening, police officers and residents were still combing the compound and surrounding areas in search of Joy's missing head.
Joy Kanini's family lawyer, Derrick Maingi, addresses journalists outside the Nyeri County Referral Hospital morgue on June 16, 2026.
Photo credit: Mercy Mwende | Nation
According to the family's lawyer, Derrick Maingi, a post-mortem examination conducted at Nyeri County Referral Hospital indicated that Joy died from excessive bleeding.
"The government pathologist could not conclusively determine the exact cause of death because critical body parts are still missing. However, the examination established that a saw was used to dismember the body," he said.
Preliminary investigations suggest that Joy may have been unconscious at the time the dismemberment occurred.
For neighbours, the allegations have been difficult to reconcile with the couple they thought they knew.
Residents told the Nation that Joy and Muriithi met while studying at Nyeri National Polytechnic and had maintained a close relationship since.
"They were always together. We knew them as a loving, inseparable couple. Muriithi was a quiet man. He appeared devoted to her and never hid the relationship,," said one neighbour who requested anonymity.
Joy lived in Classic Estate but frequently spent time at her boyfriend's residence in Ngangarithi. She earned a living selling shoes, while neighbours said Muriithi was unemployed.
The one-bedroom house belonging to John Muriithi in Ngangarithi Estate, Nyeri County. Muriithi is the prime suspect in the murder of Joy Kanini.
Photo credit: Mercy Mwende | Nation
The last confirmed sighting of Joy was on Monday, June 8, when neighbours saw her washing clothes outside his house.
Investigators are also pursuing reports that the couple may have argued shortly before her disappearance, although police have not officially confirmed that angle.
Family members remember Joy as reserved, humble and deeply private.
"Whenever we talked, she would mention that she was seeing someone but she rarely spoke about him. Still, I could tell they had been together for a long time," said one relative.
A resident searching through bushes at Ngangarithi Estate in Nyeri on the evening of June 16, 2026 for Joy Kanini’s missing head. This was after the police recovered part of her dismembered body from a pit latrine.
Photo credit: Mercy Mwende | Nation
"By Wednesday afternoon, we had not yet recovered the deceased's missing head. We are also pursuing the suspect, who is believed to have been in a long-term on-and-off relationship with the deceased," she said.
