A week after Corporal Caroline Jemutai Kangogo captured the headlines for the alleged murder of two men - her colleague Constable John Ogweno and businessman Peter Njiru Ndwiga - the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and the National Intelligence Service are still pursuing her.
Here is what we know so far about the murder, the fugitive officer, her victims and the progress of investigations.
1. At 8.40am on Monday, July 5, a police officer, Sergeant Joseph Ologe, who resides at the Kasarani police houses, reported to the Nakuru Police Station that around 7am while he was reporting to work, he spotted PC Ogweno’s car, a Toyota Corolla (KBV 735U), with broken windows and the engine still running.
When the officer peeped through the broken driver’s window, he saw PC Ogweno lying in the car seat with blood oozing from his nose. Officers who responded to the report discovered that the officer had been shot and he was dead .
2. Collected from the scene of the officer’s killing was a 9mm calibre cartridge, a stone and a metal rod suspected to have been used to smash the window. On further investigation, the officers noted that PC Ogweno’s firearm was not on him though he still had the holster. Records at the station’s armory indicated that he had been issued with a Ceska pistol with serial number 94676 and so the detectives suspected that whoever had taken the officer’s life had made away with the gun.
Police Constable John Ogweno who was killed in a suspected love triangle on July 5, 2021.
Photo credit: Courtesy
3. Investigations into the killing of PC Ogweno was immediately taken over by the Nakuru East sub-county criminal investigations officers, who found near the scene of the crime the mobile phone of PC Ogweno’s colleague, Cpl Kangogo, suspected to have been having an affair with PC Ogweno . On checking PC Ogweno and Cpl Kangogo’s house, the officers did not find the firearm. They noted that some of PC Ogweno’s clothes were in Cpl Kangogo’s house. Cpl Kangogo was nowhere to be seen.
4. On Tuesday, July 6, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) declared Cpl Kangogo a person of interest and began a search for her. As they searched, the owner of Dedamax Kimbo hotel, Peter Kiumi Mugeshi, made a report through a call to the OCPP of Mugera Police Post that a man had been found dead in a hotel room.
Peter Ndwiga, who was suspected to have been killed by policewoman Caroline Kangogo inside a hotel room in Juja.
Photo credit: Pool
It was established that the man’s identity was Peter Njiru Ndwiga, 32, and he had booked the room (No.107) at 4.22pm on Monday in the company of a woman. In his pockets was a receipt for a Sh3,020 payment made to Jogoo Kimakia Country Lodge in Thika using a bank card belonging to Cpl Kangogo.
The receipt indicated that the payment was made at 15.29hrs on July 5. Lodge employees said Cpl Kangogo had eaten lunch at the facility on Monday, July 5.
5. The DCI issued a statement, declaring Cpl Kangogo “armed and lethal” and cautioning people, particularly men, to be wary of her as she was “on a killing spree and was luring men to hotels before murdering them”. The DCI issued a toll-free line, 0800722203, to the public and asked them to report any information concerning the whereabouts of Cpl Kangogo.
6. A post-mortem examination on PC Ogweno and Mr Ndwiga has revealed that they died from excessive bleeding after they were shot. Both suffered single bullet wounds to their heads, made at close range.
7. Nation.Africa obtained a profile of Cpl Kangogo showing the 34-year-old was enlisted in the National Police Service on August 14, 2008 and was promoted from the rank of constable to corporal on January 20, 2021.
She was born in Nyawa, Tambach Division in and former Keiyo district to Barnaba Kipkoech Korir and Leah Jepkosgei Kangogo as the firstborn. She attended Nyawa Boarding Primary School and joined St Francis Secondary School and later St Alphonsus Mutei Girls Secondary School, before joining the Kenya Police College in Kiganjo between 2008 and 2009 for her initial training.
While at Kiganjo, she obtained a First Class in Shooting Range Qualification. She went for a Corporal Course at the Kenya Police College in Kiganjo in 2014. Cpl Kangogo is married to Commissioner of Police Richard Kipkirui Ngeno, with whom she has two children.
She had served at the Police Training College in Mombasa, the Kaloleni Police Station, Kenya Police College and Central Police Station in Nakuru. She is attached to the Nakuru Law Courts as a court orderly.
8. As the search for Cpl Kangogo entered Day 8 on Monday, July, 13, the Law Society of Kenya, through CEO Mercy Wambua, enlisted the services of veteran lawyer John Khaminwa to represent Cpl Kangogo in court and to bargain for her release on bond pending her arrest.
9. Sources said Cpl Kangogo had expressed fears for her life and therefore wished not to be detained in any police station. Senior Counsel Khaminwa, attaching conditions to the gesture, said Cpl Kangogo must surrender the weapons she is said to have to the police or to any of Mr Khaminwa’s law firm offices.
