The late Willis Ayieko and (inset) Vincent Ouma Okoth before a court in Siaya County. Okoth has been linked to Ayieko's murder.
The fifth suspect in the murder of Willis Ayieko, the Human Resource director at private security firm Wells Fargo, has been arrested, but only three suspects are in custody after two others were killed in a shoot-out with police.
Fredrick Otieno was arrested in Kisumu on Monday and joins in custody Victor Ouma alias Sisco and a woman associate of Ouma’s brother, Robert Wakolo, who was shot dead by police on Thursday. This is the latest arrest as the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) intensifies investigations into Ayieko’s killing.
Police allege that Mr Otieno, a motorcycle rider, transported Ouma to the location where Ayieko was abducted.
Wakolo was gunned down by police in Kisumu a day after he had escaped a police dragnet. The previous day, Wakolo, who was driving a Toyota Axio registration number KDN 948B, had evaded a police ambush at Adder Farm within Kagilo in Siaya.
Officers from Wagai Police Station had flagged down the suspect’s vehicle, but Wakolo defied the orders and instead opened fire on the police while speeding off towards Luanda.
The vehicle crashed at Adder Farm where the suspect’s female associate was shot and captured during the shoot-out that saw police recover a firearm stolen from Ayieko on the night he was murdered.
Police said the woman, whose identity is yet to be revealed, later died in a hospital in Yala.
Military shorts
Earlier, detectives had raided Wakolo’s rented house at Sagam Trading Centre within Kanyibwop village, where a woman found in the house was also arrested and several items confiscated, according to the DCI. Among the items seized were a jungle green sweater, a pair of military shorts, two pairs of jungle boots, two TV sets, a HP laptop and a Rolex watch.
Ayieko went missing on the night of October 18, moments after he had left the home of a bereaved family at Muhanda, Nyamninia area in Gem sub-county. His body, which bore signs of torture, was discovered face down in a shallow stream in Nyamninia on October 23.
On the day his body was found, police recovered CCTV footage that captured two men parking Ayieko’s car, an orange Ford Ranger double-cabin pickup, off the Buyangu-Ekero road in Sabatia.
On October 28, police seized Ouma in Nairobi’s Dandora Phase Four where he had just rented a house and furnished it with new items. Investigators believe he is one of the two men who were seen abandoning Ayieko’s car.
DCI said the suspect was placed at the scene of crime through forensic analysis following investigations by a joint team of DCI’s Homicide, Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau and Operations detectives.
“He (Ouma) remains the key suspect in the murder of Ayieko. Already, forensic investigations and scrutiny of CCTV footage that captured two men abandoning Ayieko’s vehicle have placed him at the scene,” a detective privy to the ongoing investigations told the Nation.
Ayieko’s family, through his elder brother Aggrey Onyango, has asked police not to bungle investigations and ensure his killers are brought to book. This as the investigation into Ayieko’s murder continues to raise more questions.
For starters, detectives are yet to establish the motive of the killing. Some sources privy to the probe have suggested it was robbery, citing the criminal past of the suspects and claims Ayieko had lots of cash. But why did the suspects torture him if they only wanted to steal from him?
There are also questions on how police had detailed profiles of the suspects’ criminal records and yet they roamed free for months.
According to the police, Wakolo, who went by various aliases, including George Oduor Okoth and Kim, was a serial robber who had been on the police radar and had escaped a police operation earlier. He had been linked to the killing of a woman identified as Grace Awino Odero, an M-Pesa attendant at Kibuye market.
Robbery with violence
In another incident, police on May 3, raided Wakolo’s home in Nyamasaria but he escaped during the operation in which his brother aged 17 was arrested and charged. Police said they recovered an AK47 rifle, a magazine and 36 live ammunition.
“He was also wanted by Kondele police for robbery with violence and possessing a magazine and ammunition,” DCI boss Mohammed Amin said.
When police presented Ouma in court last week, prosecutors said he had been previously charged with robbery with violence.
The swift killing of the two suspects, Wakolo and his unidentified female accomplice is also being viewed with suspicion. But police insist the suspects had fired at them first when challenged to surrender.
Other questions include whether Ayieko’s murder had anything to do with his role in an internal investigation at Wells Fargo following a Sh94 million heist by rogue staff.
Meanwhile, Ayieko’s family has announced that he will be buried on November 9 in his home in Central Alego, Siaya County.
