Elizabeth Wanjiru Githinji’s death on Saturday afternoon has shone the spotlight on the mysterious lifestyle of gospel singer Paul Mathenge Wanderi alias Dishon Mirugi.
Wanjiru, 38, a Nakuru-based pastor, had met the musician in August last year and they fell in love.
Her death came just a day after Mr Mirugi held a crusade in Juja, Kiambu County, through his church known as Flying Eagle International Ministry.
In his church, there are light blue and white seats for the congregation and black ones made for the leadership or high-profile guests. He also visits a local television station where he usually preaches.
Neighbours, friends and members of Mr Mirugi’s Flying Eagle International Ministry said the couple had been seen together a number of times and everything about them seemed fine until Wanjiru’s shocking death.
A close friend of Mr Mirugi’s was shocked yesterday that Wanjiru was dead. He described her as a woman who was always jovial and full of life.
Investigations by Nation revealed that, apart from preaching and making music, Mr Mirugi is in the real estate business where he sold plots of land on Garissa Road at Sh230,000 apiece.
Other land deals he is engaged in include Success Gardens in Kithimani, Machakos County, where he sells 50 feet by 100 feet plots for Sh230,000 upfront, or Sh250,000 in instalments.
Yesterday, Mr Mirugi, alongside his lawyer Ndegwa Njiru, spent the better part of the afternoon at the Kasarani Police Station, where he had been summoned to record a statement.
This was exactly 17 hours after Wanjiru’s body was taken to the Kenyatta University Teaching, Research and Referral Hospital mortuary by Mr Mirugi.
A detective privy to the investigations yesterday said Wanjiru was in the musician’s home to sort out some differences with him.
“They had not known each other for a very long time but had some issues, it was because of this that the woman left Nakuru for Nairobi to have a word with Mr Mirugi with the hope of making things right,” said the officer who spoke in confidence because he is not authorised to speak to the press.
He pointed to a possible love triangle because the musician has also been linked with a senior manager of a real estate company.
“When he left the house, he said that he asked her to wash his clothes and he would be back later,” the officer further said.
A police report seen by the Nation, which was filed at the Kahawa West Police Station in Kasarani sub-county in Nairobi, Mr Mirugi referred to Wanjiru as his ex-girlfriend.
A police source said this raised the question why the musician welcomed her to his house and even left her there.
“He reported that he left his ex-girlfriend in his house and left for Thika Road and later tried reaching her through the phone, but she was not responding. He rushed back to the house in Maziwa sub-location and found her hanging from [a bed sheet tied to] the frame of his wardrobe,” the police report read in part.
Mr Mirugi is said to have reached out to his neighbours before he rushed her to Jacaranda Maternity Hospital where she was declared dead on arrival.
The musician is said to have carried her body from the hospital in his car, a Toyota Mark X.
According to the police report, he carried the body to the police station, but officers there escorted him to Kahawa West Police Station.
Officers at Kahawa West Police Station and some from Kasarani visited the scene and on the same day ruled out that the death was the result of suicide.
