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The main suspect in the murder of a Kenyan woman in the US, Kevin Kangethe Kinyanjui, escaped from custody on Wednesday night in unclear circumstances.

Following the escape from Muthaiga Police Station, four police officers and a lawyer who had visited the fugitive were arrested to assist in the investigations.

Kangethe was arrested on January 29 at Alchemist Club in Westlands Nairobi after being on the run for three months. He is believed to have murdered Margaret Mbitu shortly before boarding a 16-hour flight to Nairobi to avoid prosecution.

The escape, just a day before Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina gave further directions and issued orders related to bond, has now thrown the process of seeking justice for the woman’s kin into disarray.

Just like his Wednesday night escape appeared well planned, the fugitive also bought tickets on October 31 morning, just hours after Mbitu’s death.

Constables Elijah Kipkorir and James Maina, who were manning the report office, said at around 4pm, they were approached by a man, John Maina Ndegwa, who introduced himself as the suspect’s lawyer.

The man further said he wanted to talk to the suspect and the officers agreed and led Kangethe out of the cells.

“The officers agreed to his request and removed the prisoner from the cells and took him to the Anti-crime office, Number 3. After a short while the prisoner escaped by running away and leaving the lawyer behind,” a police report reads.

Arrest warrant

During the incident, it was reported that the station commander, Chief Inspector Esther Muchomba was chairing a meeting with junior officers.

The suspect is said to have fled through Thika superhighway and efforts to re-arrest him failed.

Constables Kipkorir and Maina, the station guards Constables Ann Wanjiku and Abdi Hassan Saman and the advocate were arrested and detained at the station.

After his arrest, Kang’ethe was briefly detained at the Gigiri Police Station and was later arraigned. The detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) were directed to detain him for 30 days as the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution began the extradition process.

To ensure he was not repatriated without a court process, Kangethe had renounced his US citizenship.

On February 2, prosecutor Vincent Monda asked the court to endorse the US warrant for Kangethe’s arrest and issue directions for the extradition proceedings.

Before he was arraigned, he was positively identified in an identification parade conducted by both Kenyan and US law enforcement officers.

Kenyan detectives had last November received a request from US authorities to arrest Kangethe for alleged murder in Massachusetts.

An arrest warrant was issued on November 2, after Massachusetts State Police found the body of the 31-year-old Mbitu in a car at Boston’s Logan Airport Central Parking garage the night before.

On November 3 last year, investigators in Massachusetts released Kangethe’s photos, one of which was captured on security cameras at Logan Airport as he fled for Kenya.

Mbitu was found dead with stab wounds in the front passenger seat of a car at Boston Logan Airport on November 2, just two days after her family reported her missing.

Preliminary investigations revealed Kangethe stabbed Mbitu several times before dumping her body at the airport’s Central parking garage and boarding a flight to Kenya.

Akasha family

According to Mbitu’s mother, Rose Mbitu, her daughter was dating Kangethe but she was trying to end the relationship.

Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden had urged Kangethe to turn himself in.

“We are making every effort possible to apprehend him and to begin the process of seeking justice for Margaret Mbitu and those mourning her tragic death,” Suffolk County DA Kevin Hayden said in a statement then.

Massachusetts authorities are hoping to take advantage of Kenya’s extradition treaty with the US, which led to the conviction of two members of the notorious Akasha family on drug trafficking and other charges.

Preliminary evidence gathered from the deceased’s car indicated that Kang’ethe was the primary suspect.

Mbitu lived with her family in Whitman and worked in Boston Area Multi-Services Inc (Bamsi) in Brockton, about 7.2 km away. On the night of October 30, she drove 62km to Boston Logan Airport to see Kang’ethe, who lived in Lowell, about 80km from her home.

Local media reported that surveillance footage placed Mbitu’s car in Lowell and in Chelsea, Massachusetts, the day before she was killed.

The 31-year-old nurse clocked out of her shift at 11pm on October 30.

She got into her white Toyota Venza and drove off, in what would be the last time she would be seen alive.

Family members reported her missing after she did not return home and could not be reached by phone.

It is still unknown whether she knew her partner was planning to travel to Kenya.

Two days later, Massachusetts State Police officers found Mbitu’s body in her car. Authorities have not revealed much, except that preliminary evidence points to Kang’ethe as the prime suspect.

Mbitu was a naturalised US citizen. She graduated from Quincy College in 2018 and worked for Bamsi, a non-profit organisation.

Concerns have been raised on the rising number of escape of suspects, especially those accused of serious offences.

In the last two years, almost 200 suspects have escaped from custody across the country.

One of the most dramatic escapes was on May 11, 2022, when eight robberies with violence suspects made a dramatic night escape from Thika police station cells, also in unclear circumstances.

Three of the suspects who escaped had the previous year carjacked a woman and raped her as they made demands for money from her husband.

According to the officer who was in charge of the cells, Constable Amos Muteti, he was called by one of the suspects who requested him to take him to the toilet at around 10pm.

Terror suspects

The officer claimed that as he opened the cells’ door, he was attacked by the suspects who overpowered him and forcibly took the key from him and used it to open the door.

The suspects had robbery cases pending before court and were being held there briefly after being transferred from the Industrial Area GK Prison, Nairobi.

They were Livingstone Mwangi Njau, Francis Mwangi Matheri, Allan Njogu Mungai, Charles Nyaga Mitaru, John Mbugua Murege and Eric Ngigi Musige. Others were Eric Ngigi Musige, Arthur Ndugu Kavemba, and Bunton Kaguku Mbugua alias Bunju.

In another case, three terror suspects -Musharraf Abdalla Akhulunga a.k.a Zarkarawi, Mohammed Ali Abikar and Joseph Juma Odhiambo a.k.a Yusuf -escaped from Kamiti Maximum Prison.

Abikar was charged and convicted in 2019 over his links to Al-Shabaab and for abetting the Garissa University attack of April 2015 that left 148 people dead while Odhiambo was arrested in 2019 for trying to join the Somali terror group.

Akhulunga was arrested in 2012 over a foiled attack on Kenya’s Parliament.