Detectives have recovered the phone belonging to the slain female Multi-Media University student after the main suspect admitted to having taken it and donated it to a church. 

Philip Eric Mutinda had not only confessed to having murdered his girlfriend, Sylvia Kemunto, on March 30, 2025, but also told the detectives that he took her phone which he offered in church the following day. 

Detectives from the Lang’ata Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said they have strong evidence after the suspect’s confession was corroborated by the recovery of a crucial exhibit, the phone, which he had mentioned in his confession. 

Though courts do not entirely rely on confessions, the recovery of the phone has strengthened the credibility of the suspect’s testimony. Though a direct admission of guilt, confessions can be retracted or disputed, consequently, it is essential to have independent evidence to support it. 

Slain woman 

Detectives investigating the murder visited and recovered the mobile phone from the church where they also interrogated the managers of the church and confirmed the gadget was offered by Mutinda. 

Mutinda also told the detectives that he and Kemunto had been in a relationship but they had differences, which he was trying to reconcile. 

On the fateful day, he went to her room and tried to reconcile with her and he claims that she provoked him leading to a violent altercation. 

It is alleged that Mutinda pushed Kemunto onto a wall and bed and strangled her with a rope from a hoodie, and she sustained head injuries from the hit on the wall. 

He then bundled the lifeless body in a suitcase and transported it to his room where he covered it with a blanket and left for a walk. 

He came back around 40 minutes later and moved the body back into the suitcase and slept. 

In the early morning of March 31 at around 4 am he reportedly transferred it to a tank where it was found. 

He told police he then removed her SIM card from her phone and discarded it within the university compound but retained the phone. 

He later visited the church and gave Kemunto’s phone as an offering and then travelled to his rural home where he confessed to the family. 

His parents then escorted him to Sultan Hamud Police Station, where he surrendered. 

An autopsy on the body suggested she was strangled and she also had head injuries inflicted by a blunt object.  

Chief Government pathologist Dr Johansen Oduor and the family’s doctor, Dr Martha Mwangi, said the student also had defensive injuries indicating she tried to fight off her assailant. 

Water tank 

On Tuesday, a Kibera court allowed police to continue detaining the suspect for 21 days to allow police to complete investigations. 

In his signed affidavit, investigating officer, Jairus Mutua attached to the Lang’ata DCI office told Senior Principal Magistrate Abdul Zainabu that Mutinda was arrested on April 4, in Sultan Hamud after the body of Kemunto was found in a rooftop water tank. 

Both the deceased and the suspect were first-year students, pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, and a Bachelor of Mathematics in Computer Science respectively. They had been in a relationship since September 2024. 

The relationship was facing a lot of challenges, and they decided to terminate it. However, the situation did not sit well with Mutinda who did not want to let it go and was seeking to reconcile. 

Triza Kwamboka, the mother of the missing student, informed journalists that she had sent her daughter some money for upkeep on the day she disappeared. 

However, when Kwamboka tried to call Sylvia to confirm whether she had received the funds, her calls went unanswered, which raised concerns. 

“We saw injuries on the neck, which are typical of people who have been strangled. This indicates that the victim was deprived of oxygen at the time of death. Based on these findings, we concluded that the cause of Sylvia’s death was strangulation,” said Oduor.