Rita Waeni: Police Recover Human Head Suspected To Be Of Slain Student
The detectives picked the head for preservation and analysis amidst ongoing investigations and an active manhunt for Waeni's killer.
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Police on Sunday, January 21 recovered a human head in a dam in Kiambaa, Kiambu County suspected to be of slain university student Rita Waeni Muendo.
Preliminary reports reaching Viral Tea's newsdesk reveal that the head was found in the dam after responding to locals who tipped them off, a significant discovery which could also give detectives a clue on where the killer may have headed after murdering Waeni on Saturday, January 13 at an apartment at TRM Drive, Roysambu, Nairobi.
The detectives picked the head for preservation and analysis amidst ongoing investigations and an active manhunt for Waeni's killer.
Collage of slain Rita Waeni Muendo. /FILE
“We have a human head believed to be that of the slain woman but we will say more after the probe,” said an officer aware of the probe.
Also recovered were some of the slain woman’s belongings including her mobile phone.
Addressing journalists on location, Kiambaa police commander Pius Mwandhi confirmed the incident.
Detectives are likely to rely on forensic analysis including facial recognition technology to ascertain whether the head is really that of Waeni and could also examine the head for any biological traces of her killer to aid them in the manhunt.
The discovery comes after shocking findings made by Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor following a post-mortem done on the remains of Waeni whose body was found mutilated last week.
Oduor revealed on Friday, January 19 that the killer tried to extract her fingernails to avoid a case of leaving traces of his DNA in the victim's body, which would have aided detectives in hunting him down.
The pathologist underlined that such violent crimes consist of a struggle between the victim and perpetrator, leading to a likely exchange of biological material between them.
"A thing that we noticed is that the killer tried to clip off her fingernails for reasons which I may not be able to know and as a scientist when we see this we think that the person was trying to hide evidence so that we are unable to get his DNA from his victim," said the Chief Pathologist.
However, Oduor did ensure that he was able to collect samples from some of Waeni's fingernails that her killer did not damage.
Describing the crude details of the murder, Oduor described that the killer looked as though he was well aware of his mission, adding that on inspection of the skin, it looked as though it was cut by a sharp object but a look at the bone revealed that it was sawed off with what looked like a hacksaw.
While noting that the deceased's head remains missing, Dr Oduor said "there was also a desecration of the body whereby someone cut the femur clean off so that the legs were apart from the trunk. She also lost a lot of blood but this could have been after death."
The pathologist also termed the case a rare one in his long-standing career, adding "This is the first time I have encountered such an incident. I have never come across such in my forensic life."
The pathologists picked samples from the kidney, stomach, vagina and blood for toxicology analysis at a government chemist for further tests to ascertain if there were substances introduced to the body following police suspicions that the woman was drugged before being murdered on Saturday, January 13 at the apartment.
A team from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) joined the probe to focus on the killer, whom detectives believe could be a Kenyan, contrary to reports that he was a Nigerian national.
Preliminary findings show he had bought the mobile phone he used in communication with the owner of the apartment to lure Waeni to the scene and used a fake line registered in a woman’s name.
Police are now focusing on the motive of the murder given the woman had just known his killer days earlier and the two had established contact before the murder occurred.
This is a developing story. We will provide updates on the matter in our subsequent articles.
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