The late Willis Ayieko was the Head of Human Resource (HR) at Wells Fargo.
Police have arrested a second suspect in the murder of a top official of a private security company after a gun battle on Wednesday morning in Siaya town.
The woman was seized as the investigation into the killing of Willis Ayieko, a Human Resource director at Wells Fargo Security Company, intensifies.
Police sources told Nation.Africa the woman’s boyfriend escaped the police ambush but was injured in the gun fight in the outskirts of Siaya town.
During the Wednesday morning operation, a gun battle ensued after the woman and her boyfriend who are wanted for the murder defied orders to stop a saloon car they were driving in.
Also recovered is a firearm belonging to Ayieko that was stolen on the day he was killed on Friday, October 23, in Siaya.
The firearm had 14 rounds of ammunition at the time it went missing but had none when it was found.
“The man managed to escape but with life threatening injuries. Police are still pursuing him,” said an officer who spoke in confidence as he is not authorised to address the media.
Detectives believe that the woman has very critical information that will assist in the ongoing investigations into the killing.
The operation took place just a day after another suspect, Victor Ouma Okoth, was arrested from his hideout within Charity area in Dandora Phase Four, Nairobi.
It was not immediately clear whether the man in custody and the one who fled are the ones captured on CCTV footage parking the slain man’s orange Ford Ranger double-cab pickup by the roadside in Siaya after he went missing.
On Friday, October 25, Mr Okoth had approached the caretaker of the four-storey building located within Charity area in Dandora Phase Four.
He had introduced himself as a teacher and asked to be shown one of the vacant houses, according to the caretaker, who only identified himself as John to conceal his identity.
The caretaker said the two haggled over the amount of rent considering there were still some six days to month end.
Mr Okoth had insisted on paying Sh4,000 being monthly rent until November 25 but after negotiations agreed to pay Sh5, 550.
“However, he later agreed to pay Sh750 for the five days to month end, the Sh4,000 monthly rent and Sh800 for water deposit,” the caretaker told Nation.Africa on Tuesday.
After the deal was sealed, Mr Okoth left and returned with new furniture.
When Nation.Africa visited the house on Tuesday, the windows did not have any curtains and one could clearly see the items inside.
Inside the house which appeared to have been ransacked was a new five by six bed with an equally new mattress.
Other new items were a three-seater sofa-set, a table, a television set and a sub-hoofer with twin tall speakers.
Beside the bed were two new pairs of shoes and on the sofa-set seat was a purple briefcase that was full of clothes.
On the day he moved in, Mr Okoth had at some point been joined by his brother who lives in the neighborhood. He spent the evening in the house and left the following day, Saturday.
The caretaker recalled the new tenant returned to the house past mid-night on Sunday.
He called the caretaker to open the gate.
“I warned him never to get late again and that the gate is always closed by 11pm. I only decided to open for him because he was still new in the neighborhood,” the caretaker said.
Asked to describe his appearance, the caretaker said Mr Okoth was slender, tall and dark in complexion.
On Monday, detectives attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) combed the vast Dandora Area.
Investigators are drawn from the Homicide Unit, Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB) and Operations.
Mr Okoth was arrested at Terminus Area within Dandora and bundled into one of the three vehicles.
According to DCI boss Mohamed Amin, the suspect is being held at Muthaiga Police Station as investigations into the matter go on.
“The suspect was placed at the scene of crime through forensic analysis,” Mr Amin said.
So far at least two Mpesa agents have been grilled in the probe aimed at unravelling events leading to Ayieko’s death.
This is after it emerged that his killers withdrew money from his mobile phone through mobile banking.
It has emerged that Ayieko was part of an Wells Fargo internal investigation into a Sh94 million heist involving the security firm in November 2023.
Some rogue staff of the private security made away with the cash that was on transit from a Quick Mart Supermarket to a bank along Kenyatta Avenue in Nairobi.
A family source said after the company leadership held crisis meetings following the theft, the internal investigation was launched.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) also conducted a separate criminal probe.
It is believed the people who abducted and murdered Ayieko are conversant with the vast Siaya as they only made rounds within the county and used feeder roads while avoiding the main highway.
Ayieko disappeared on Friday, October 18, after visiting a bereaved family in Muhanda, Nyamninia area in Gem Sub-County.
The following day he was scheduled to head to Kakamega County for another function with friends but he never made it there.
