More details have emerged to indicate the man behind the murder of a 20 year old university student sent images of her being slaughtered in a bathroom in Roysambu area, Nairobi.
The killer was doing this while demanding Sh500,000 from the father of Rita Waeni Muendo to release her. At the same time, detectives are back to square one in the search for a suspect behind the murder after an identification parade on a man arrested turned negative.
This family of the woman identified her as Rita Waeni Muendo, fourth year student at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
The family said the killer had demanded a ransom of Sh500,000 for him not to kill Waeni. The killer had sent a picture to the family using Rita’s mobile phone as he prepared to kill her using a hacksaw as part of efforts to push them send the money he had demanded.
According to the family, she left her aunt’s residence in Syokimau to meet with a friend. They say at around 5 am on Sunday, her father received a message, delivered from her phone number, demanding a ransom of Sh500,000 within 24 hours for the release of the student.
“With this message, the family reported the matter to the police and DCI, and investigations began,” said the statement Wednesday.
They said an additional two messages were sent to the family demanding the ransom.
“Unfortunately, the family did not get further details about the ransom or an opportunity to explore this route. Additionally, some demands were made when she had already been murdered,” the family said.
The body parts of the student, who was due to join her fourth year of university, were found inside a trash bag in the apartment by the caretaker on Sunday January 14.
Her head was however missing.
“We believe she was lured by her killer, who also tried to extort money from her family, even after killing her,” the family added.
They described her as “an intelligent, smart girl beyond her age at the very start of her youth,” who was known for her kindness, laughter, and “ability to light up any room she entered.”
On Wednesday, the team handling the probe conducted an identification parade at the Kasarani police station on a suspect who had been arrested at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as he left but it turned out negative.
Witnesses called to identify him said the said suspect was old while the one wanted looked younger and lighter. This threw the probe back to square one with the team saying the hunt on the killer is ongoing.
Read: Family of Slain Roysambu Woman Narrates Last Moments, Claim Killer Demanded Sh500,000
The man who was travelling using a Mozambican passport was intercepted before boarding a plane and interrogated at the airport before being transferred to the Kasarani Police Station pending identification which turned negative.
The team has stumbled upon details indicating that Waeni and her killer met on the social media platform Instagram.
The information was obtained from the slain woman’s account, which was cracked by detectives investigating the January 13 murder at an apartment in Roysambu area, Nairobi.
The investigators say the two avoided using voice calls and other platforms like WhatsApp in their conversation and resorted to the social media platform.
It is not clear for how long the two had been in touch.
The woman then left her Syokimau home in Athi River for Roysambu for the meeting arriving late in the evening.
She told a friend she was headed for a dinner and would be back.
According to police, part of the conversation between the two shows the man asked the girl to meet him at the TRM bus stop.
He told her he was in white shoes and after she alighted she told him where she was standing and her dress code.
Waeni alighted in Roysambu where the suspect went to pick her up after he explained to her what he was wearing oblivious of what was waiting for her.
She had also described her outfit to the suspect and she followed him into the rental house not knowing it would be her last day alive.
At the rental apartment, detectives believe that the man committed the heinous act in the bathroom, cutting her body into pieces.
Police want to establish if the woman was drugged before she was abused and slaughtered.
The man is also believed to have used a hacksaw in his mission to dismember the body and later packed the body parts in a bed sheet and later in a paper bag and disposed the remains at a dustbin.
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