Rita Waeni Murder: 2 Nigerians Arrested After DCI Tracks Them To Kiambu Apartment

Photos of the two who were arraigned on Monday, January 22 at the courts emerged, but they did not match the man who was captured on CCTV collecting keys to a short-stay accommodation at TRM Drive where Waeni was found murdered.

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Jan 22, 2024 - 19:26
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Rita Waeni Murder: 2 Nigerians Arrested After DCI Tracks Them To Kiambu Apartment
Collage of slain Rita Waeni Muendo and an apartment in Roysambu, Nairobi where she was killed. /FILE

New details emerged regarding the brutal killing of 20-year-old Rita Waeni at TRM Drive in Roysambu, Nairobi as two Nigerian nationals were arraigned at the Makadara Law Courts following their arrest on Sunday, January 21.

Photos of the two who were arraigned on Monday, January 22 at the courts emerged, but they did not match the man who was captured on CCTV collecting keys to a short-stay accommodation at TRM Drive where Waeni was found murdered.

Investigations by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) revealed that the duo were living in Kenya illegally, with one having an expired passport and the other not having any travel documents at the time of his arrest, telling detectives that he lost his passport two years ago.

The Nigerian suspects were traced by the DCI’s Criminal Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB) detectives to an apartment in Ndenderu in Kiambu County where they were picked up on Sunday.

Two Nigerian suspects arraigned at the Makadara Law Courts on January 22, 2024. /KINYAN BOY.X

According to Constable Benjamin Wangila of Kasarani DCI offices in an affidavit, the suspects were living not very far from the area where Waeni’s head was recovered.

The man who was earlier arrested by police had tried to escape using a fake passport but the suspect captured on CCTV had a lighter skin tone, contrary to the persons who appeared in court to face murder charges.

During the raid, a hatchet, butcher’s knife, a national identity card belonging to a Kenyan, six mobile phones, three laptops, 10 SIM cards from different telecom services providers and other items were recovered at the house where the two suspects were residing before their arrest.

The affidavit indicated that the Nigerian suspect bought a hatchet from an online vendor and he told investigators that he had bought it for self-defence.

“The investigation team is seeking to obtain call data records for all the SIM cards and mobile phone numbers recovered from the respondents to ascertain whether they were involved in the murder,” Wangila stated.

“The applicant requires adequate time to escort the respondents to the Government Chemist for extraction of their blood samples for DNA analysis and comparison against the samples that were extracted from the scene of the crime.”

He added that the suspects are flight risks since they don’t have a known fixed place of abode.

Wangila also sought orders to hold the suspects for eight days at the Kasarani police station which were granted by Senior Principal Magistrate Agnes Mwangi of Makadara Law Courts. As a result, they will remain in custody until Wednesday, January 31.

Priscila Maina, the owner of the short-term rental apartment where Waeni was killed, is also in custody for failure to register her tenant’s crucial details as required by the law, which would have helped the DCI to trace the killer. 

This is despite her reporting the matter to the police after she was alerted by the caretaker of the apartment that there were blood traces from the short-stay which led her to a garbage collection point on the ground floor where body parts were found stashed in refuse bags, with the head missing.

Waeni’s family was unable to identify her head on Monday at the City Mortuary although the DCI had disclosed that her head was suspected to have been recovered at a dam in Kiambu on Sunday.

Records at the City Mortuary where the head had been taken indicated that it belonged to an unknown female adult. Furthermore, a missing mobile phone that belonged to the deceased was also recovered at the scene.

The head was found covered in a sack and wrapped in a purple blouse, adding a sinister twist to the already gruesome scene.

Kiambaa Sub County Police Commander Pius Mwanthi further revealed that the killer might have used the stone to conceal the victim's head, intending to ensure it stayed submerged in the dam.

However, the head was discovered to be floating at the dam, meaning that the suspect's trick may have worked against him. The exact size of the stone used by the suspected killer is only known to the detectives until now.

Detectives at a dam in Kiambaa, Kiambu County where they recovered a human head on January 21, 2024. /VIRAL TEA KE

"Upon arrival at the scene, they were able to retrieve the head, Further investigations at the scene showed that it was a human head that belonged to a female.

"It was decomposing. It was wrapped in a purple blouse and with it, we also found a stone. We believe that it was there so that it could sink. It was taken to the City Mortuary for further analysis," the police boss stated.

The residents on the other hand termed the discovery unsurprising since they revealed that the dam had a history of several bodies being dumped there.

"This dam does not have enough security because it lacks a fence. There are people who even come to swim here. That needs to be addressed by the government," one of the residents stated.

Police are pursuing leads that could lead to the exact location of the killer in the murder of the 20-year-old which occurred in Roysambu between January 13-14, which has sparked uproar nationwide owing to its gruesome and inhumane nature.

Waeni was believed to be in the company of the Nigerian national who is suspected to have killed her on Sunday last week at the short-stay before fleeing with her head which was recovered the following Sunday.

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