Fatal attraction: How teen college student was lured to death by estranged lover

Mystery continues to surround the death of a young college student in Nairobi who was ensnared by her boyfriend identified as John Wanyoike 24, on Friday to travel to Kiambu so that they can discuss their relationship problems only to be killed   through stabbing, strangulation and her body dumped on the roadside.

Purity Wangechi,19, a journalism student at Nairobi-based Kenya Institute of Mass Communication had fallen out with her boyfriend, whom she had known for six months.

It is said that she  had confronted him earlier on phone after realizing that he was a criminal, detectives at Kiambu Police Station told Daily Nation.

According to police sources, Wangechi boyfriend, the suspected murder mastermind feigned innocence and pleaded with the deceased that it was fair they have a meeting to solve their differences. 

Detectives believe that the deceased was killed within Kiambu area and her body dumped on Saturday at Mburiria estate in the same county.

Her body had visible stab wounds, with indications that she might also have been strangled by her killers. Blood stained bedding, clothes were found at the scene of crime.

Ms.Wangechi left KIMC on Friday afternoon only to be killed on Saturday.

Yesterday, two other suspects were arrested over their alleged links into the murder after Ms Wangechi’s estranged lover was arrested on Sunday and led detectives to where his alleged accomplices were hiding in Kirigiti, Kiambu.

During the arrest, a kitchen knife that was used in the murder was discovered.

The two other accomplices in the murder have been identified as Mr Kanaiya Kamau and Brendan Muchiri.

Police say after the killing; the two co-accused were called by Mr Wanyoike to help him in disposing the body.

Yesterday, a police source at Kiambu Policve Station who was involved in the arrests   told Daily Nation that the trio will be arraigned at Kiambu Law Courts Monday morning, where the prosecution team will be filing a miscellaneous application to have them detained for ten days as investigations continue to unravel whether more suspects were involved in the murder.

‘We have the three suspects in the custody and they will be arraigned in court tomorrow where the investigating officer will be seeking more days to investigate the matter further and find out whether more people were involved in the murder,’’ a police source said in confidence since he is not authorized to talk to the media.
When contacted, Kiambu OCPD Mr Mohamud Badel declined to comment. 

“She confronted him about it leading to a misunderstanding between them. She however did not know that her lover was determined to cover his tracks by eliminating her,” said the DCI.

Ms Wangechi’s body is being preserved at City Mortuary awaiting a post mortem.

In the recent past, Kiambu county has emerged as murder capital where cases of contracted killings, business dealings gone sour, love triangle, and family infighting have led to people killed and their body dumped in thickets, nearby rivers or on the roadside.

Early this year, Esther Wambui, 18, was found murdered and her body dumped along Thika -road stashed in sack inside suitcase. Preliminary investigations into her murder pointed to a possible love triangle

In January last year, Lawrence Warungu 25, then a student at a local university brutally murdered his father Nicholas Njoroge Warunge, mother Ann Wanjiku, adopted nephew Maxwell Njenga, brother Christian Njenga Njoroge and farmhand James Kinyajui Wambaa  at Karura village, Kiambaa, Kiambu county.