Kevin Adam Kinyanjui Kang'ethe, who is a suspect in the murder his girlfriend in the US last year, is proving to be a cunning operator, giving authorities in both Kenya and America a constant headache over how easily he slips through their fingers.
How he managed to lure his lover with the promise of leaving her all his possessions in a foreign country when he wanted to move permanently to Kenya, and instead allegedly killed her, remains a mystery to many.
This man, who reportedly strolled out of one of the most guarded police stations in Kenya minutes past 5pm, is still at large.
An escape so hair-raising, considering he hid from the authorities for close to three months after he allegedly murdered Margaret Mbitu in Boston, USA last October.
Had someone told Ms Mbitu that following her lover, who had informed her that he was returning to Kenya for good was a bad idea, she would still be alive today.
Margaret Mbitu, 30, was found dead in a parking lot at Logan Airport in Boston, US.
Photo credit: Missing Person Poster
People who knew the couple in the US say they were hopelessly in love. But towards the end, things were not all rosy.
Rose Mbitu, the mother of the deceased, revealed that her daughter planned to break up with Mr Kang’ethe. Whether this gave the fugitive a motive to commit the crime, no one knows.
What is known is that a few days before October 30, 2023, Mr Kang’ethe had informed his love of plans to permanently relocate to Kenya. He reportedly promised to leave everything he owned in the US for her.
On the fateful day, authorities who have been searching for her said that he executed the murder of his girlfriend in Boston, USA, then dumped her body in a car, parked at Boston Logan International Airport. He then boarded a plane and fled to Kenya.
It took days for the authorities in the USA to find out that the car parked at the airport had a body in it and the person suspected to have committed the brutal murder was already 11, 558 kilometers away, staying in an apartment owned by a relative.
Preliminary investigations show that the suspect had bought tickets for the 16-hour-flight to Nairobi a few hours before the murder happened. Authorities said this was a calculated move to evade the police.
Mr Kang’ethe was swift, sharp and very determined to go against the wheels of justice.
Kevin Kang'ethe in court for the alleged murder of girlfriend in US
For three months, he eluded police dragnets and kept on enjoying life in the city, detectives attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said. The police said that Mr Kang’ethe’s favourite joints were in Westlands and along Kiambu Road.
On January 30, while leaving an entertainment spot in Westlands, he played into the hands of sleuths. The police had put him on the radar after officers in the US issued a warrant of arrest for him. The suspect was also on Interpol’s watchlist.
The following day he was taken to court, and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) was granted 30 days to facilitate the process of extraditing the suspect to the USA to answer to the charges of murder.
In the meantime, Mr Kang’ethe was detained at Muthaiga Police Station.
Seven days after being locked up in cell four at the station, and two days before he would be presented in court again, he mysteriously escaped from the station on foot.
It is reported that the suspect had been let out of the cell to see a man who introduced himself as John Maina Ndegwa, and claimed to be Mr Kang’ethe’s lawyer.
The police said that Mr Kang’ethe boarded a matatu which was heading towards Thika after an attempt to chase him failed. He is yet be re-arrested.
The daring escape has left Kenyans and people in the US wondering whether Mr Kang’ethe is just a lucky man or a very calculating individual who knows how to evade justice.
It has also been established that he has gone a step further and renounced his US citizenship, which then makes the extradition process a hard task.
As it is, as a Kenyan citizen, he can only be returned to the US to face justice through a court process.
Kevin Kangethe is wanted for the murder of his girlfriend Margaret Mbitu.
Photo credit: Boston Police
Had Mr Kang’ethe maintained his US citizenship, all it would have taken was for him to be bundled into a plane and returned to America to face justice there.
Nairobi County Police Commander Adamson Bungei ordered the arrest of four police officers over the daring escape. Two other senior officers have been reassigned dutes.
“I want to ask the suspect to surrender to the nearest police station. He might be on the run for some time but not forever and officers will finally get hold of him,” Mr Bungei told the Nation .
Ms Mbitu’s friend, who introduced herself as Ms Alpha, described her as very sweet and soft-spoken.
Ms Alpha said they usually talked on a daily basis, however, after Ms Mbitu’s boyfriend left the US for Kenya “she also went silent”.
“I wondered what would have happened for someone to do that her,” Ms Alpha told the international media on November 3, 2023.
Ms Mbitu’s mother, who resides in Whitman, praised the Kenyan police for arresting the suspect.
“I think right now, Maggie, wherever she is happy because this is the beginning of the justice process,” she had said earlier.
Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden in Boston wrote a statement just days after the arrest and praised the efforts to track down the suspect.
The Nation has learnt that Ms Mbitu’s family set up a GoFundMe account which raised Sh1.7 million for her funeral. Ms Mbitu, who was born at Kijabe Hospital, Kiambu County, was buried on November 13, 2023 in the US.
Whether by fate or design, Mr Kang’ethe, remains a free man.
