A 33-year-old man who was found with eight stab wounds in a room where a 20-year-old woman had been before she fell off to her death in Thome area, Kasarani, Nairobi claims she stabbed him.
Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations are holding Lawrence Gitonga who was found with stab wounds in the room.
He told police the slain woman stabbed him in a fight before she jumped off to her death.
Police say they are trying to confirm the claims.
The body of Joan Mbula Nzomo, 20 was Saturday found on the ground floor of an apartment she had spent the previous night.
She was half naked at the time the body fell off the tenth floor of the White House apartments.
She wore a red t-shirt at the time of the discovery of the body.
It is not clear if she was pushed out of the room, was running away or died by suicide, police said.
When police arrived at the scene hours after the woman had died, they realized the room she spent in, which also served as a short-stay accommodation was locked from inside.
The team contacted the owner of the room who arrived with a spare key to enable them to access it.
Therein, they found an unconscious man lying on the floor with eight stab wounds.
He had bled profusely, which prompted the team to rush him to hospital but under watch.
He told police Joan stabbed him.
The room looked disturbed which indicated there had been a struggle therein.
Neighbours told police they heard the woman shouting for help at the balcony of the house before she fell off.
The detectives found Gitonga unconscious on the floor with eight stab wounds.
The DCI officers spent the better part of Saturday morning combing through evidence and interviewing residents and management of the apartment.
The officers are trying to unravel what transpired with pictures from the house showing bloody bed sheets and a bathroom.
The man who accompanied the deceased is nursing eight stab wounds.
Police said there were blood-stained bed sheets and blood splattered on the bathroom walls and floor.
They suspect the man may have sought refuge in the bathroom after he was stabbed.
Detectives are keen to get answers on what transpired leading to the death of the woman.
The deceased had no wounds. A postmortem is however planned to tell how she died.
Detectives spent the better part of Saturday at the scene in efforts to unravel the 3 am incident that happened in one of the more than 200 units of the building that is both a residential place and has temporary stay apartments.
The investigating officers collected forensic evidence, and personal belongings and secured CCTV footage that will help in their investigations.
Police said they had established the woman met the man in one of the entertainment joints along Mirema Drive in Roysambu on Friday night.
Hours later, they were seen dropping off one of their friends before heading to the White House apartments and later to a bar close to the apartments where they continued drinking inside a car.
Around 3 am Saturday, the two checked into the short-stay apartment they had booked on the 10th floor.
Police said they are waiting for Gitonga to stabilize to tell his story as part of the probe into the murder.
The incident comes in the wake of increased such murders in short-term accommodation.
They include that of socialite Starlet Wahu Mwangi and of university student Rita Waeni Muendo.
Many other cases of homicide are pending at various stages of probe.
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