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The heinous murder of Rachael Wambui, a 55-year-old woman from Gwa Kahata village in Gatundu South on January 21 is the latest in a spate of killings that have turned Kiambu into a murder capital.

Wambui, who is said to have been waylaid by her assailants as she was going home from church, was stabbed twice in the neck before the killers chopped off her left breast and vanished.

Gatundu South Sub-County Police Commander Jonathan Koech says the unknown killers dumped the body at Thiririka bridge before it was spotted by the public who later informed police.

Wambui, who is said to have been living with her mother, a frail, aged woman was last seen alive at PCEA Kiganjo Church around 11am only for her dismembered body to be discovered hours later at the banks of Thiririka River.

She was expected to attend a family gathering at Itikarua village but her phone was off by her relatives who were seeking to know her whereabouts and why she was late for the meeting.

Ascertaining motive

Gatundu police told journalists investigations into the matter had been launched to ascertain who is behind and the motive of the killing.

“It is shocking and we have started our investigations to establish who killed the woman. She was stabbed twice on the neck and her left breast had been chopped off. Our DCI officers are already on the ground trying to piece information together,” said Koech.

Her body was moved to Gatundu Level Five Hospital mortuary as police intensified investigations.

Wambui’s murder could be horrific but is not isolated as similar monstrous killings have been happening in the county for the last one month.

Killing patterns

This month alone, Kiambu County alone has reported six pitiless murder cases and although the killing patterns are not similar, some of the brutal murders have proved the high appetite for human organs by the killers who chop off and escape with and or leave the mutilated organs at the murder scene.

On Sunday, police discovered a human head believed to be that of massacred Rita Waeni Muendo, a 20-year-old Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) student whose disjointed body was discovered at an apartment along TRM Drive in Roysambu.

The rest of her remains were found wrapped in a plastic bag and sheet and placed by a dustbin. Police picked the head for preservation and analysis as the probe and hunt on the killer continues.

On January 16, an unidentified woman was found along Ruiru River and is believed to have been killed elsewhere and her body dumped in the river before it was swept by water downstream.

Two days later on January 18, a naked body of another middle-aged woman was found near Gwa Kairu area in Juja, Kiambu County.

Physical injuries

Juja sub-county police commander Michael Mwaura confirmed the incident saying the body had physical injuries and bruises on the face alongside signs of strangulation.

At the scene where the woman identified as Janet Naanyu, 23, was found, heaps of Muguka, khat and groundnuts were found.

“It was reported by one Peter Gachara Ngugi that his wife Janet Naanyu was coming from her work place at Ruiru market on January 16 at around 8pm and as they were communicating, her phone suddenly went off.

“He waited for her to arrive in futility. After making a report, he was referred to General Kago Mortuary in Thika to identify an unknown body which he positively identified as that of his wife,” a summarized police report read.

Also, this month, the body of a businessman, a long-serving officer at a water firm in Thika was found lying at Mukunike village inside his hardware shop. His assailants are reported to have stabbed him several times before they vanished leaving him for the dead.

In the same month, a woman from Ndundu village in Gatundu Sound was found hanging inside her club in what is suspected to have been an assassination by yet to be established killers.

Yesterday, Kiambu county police commander Michael Muchiri Nyaga confirmed that besides the incidents that have been happening, there has been a sharp increase in people dying by suicide.

Yesterday alone, three people, according to him died by suicide, a worrying trend he said can only be reversed through a concerted effort of all stakeholders including the church, police, parents, counsellors among other key participants.