Person of interest arrested over murder of TUK lecturer Edgar Mokua
By Ndiritu Wanjiru, July 22, 2026Homicide detectives have arrested a person of interest in connection with the murder of Technical University of Kenya (TUK) lecturer Edgar Mokua, marking a breakthrough in a case that has drawn widespread attention since the academic disappeared earlier this month.
Writing on X on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said Richard Gikuhe Mbugua was arrested in Ruiru Blue Estate following forensic investigations that linked him to the killing. Detectives also recovered a grey Toyota Ractis, registration number KBZ 002R, which investigators believe was used to transport and dump Mokua’s body.
The arrest comes more than two weeks after Mokua mysteriously disappeared from his residence at Princes Park in Lavington on July 6, 2026. He was last seen leaving his home at around 4:20 pm but never returned, prompting his family to report him missing at Muthangari Police Station after frantic efforts to trace him failed.
“Homicide detectives have arrested the prime suspect linked to the brutal murder of Edgar Mokua, a lecturer at the Technical University of Kenya (TUK), whose body was discovered after he mysteriously disappeared from his Lavington home,” the DCI statement read in part.
“Mokua was last seen on July 6, 2026, when he left his residence at Princes Park, Lavington, at around 4:20 p.m. and never returned. Concerned relatives reported him missing at Muthangari Police Station after efforts to trace him proved futile,” the statement added.
What began as a missing person’s case took a tragic turn five days later when Mokua’s body was found near Woodcreek Academy. Officers from Kiamumbi Police Station recovered the body and transferred it to the Nairobi City Mortuary before investigators confirmed it was the missing lecturer.
Detectives reconstruct final hours
The complexity of the case saw homicide detectives take over investigations, with forensic experts retracing Mokua’s final movements. Investigators established that on the evening of his disappearance, the lecturer spent several hours at Kettle Club in Lavington in the company of two men and a woman before the group later moved to Ibiza Club at Lavington Mall.
According to detectives, Mokua’s companions eventually left the club, leaving him behind. That was the last confirmed sighting of the lecturer before his body was discovered dumped several kilometres away.
Investigators relied on forensic intelligence to reconstruct the events that followed. The evidence linked a grey Toyota Ractis, registration number KBZ 002R, to the disposal of the body after the vehicle was traced to the scene where Mokua’s remains were abandoned.
The forensic trail led detectives to Mbugua, who was arrested in Ruiru Blue Estate. The Toyota Ractis was later recovered at Murera Farm in Juja and has been impounded as a key exhibit in the investigation.
The person of interest remains in police custody pending arraignment as detectives continue with investigations to establish the motive behind the killing and determine whether other individuals may have played a role in the lecturer’s death.