Rita Waeni's Family Identifies Missing Head As Autopsy Reveals New Details
The family had identified the missing head on Wednesday, January 24 based on inspections done on her forehead, hair and teeth formation.
Marvin Chege 
The family of slain university student Rita Waeni Muendo has positively identified the head which was recovered in a dam in Kiambaa, Kiambu County on Sunday, January 21.
The family had identified the missing head on Wednesday, January 24 based on inspections done on her forehead, hair and teeth formation.
The identification came when chief government pathologist Johansen Oduor was conducting a postmortem examination on the recovered head, a move that was given the green light as part of efforts to establish how she died on Saturday, January 13 at an apartment at TRM Drive, Roysambu, Nairobi.
Meanwhile, the findings from the autopsy subsequently done on the late Waeni revealed that she died as a result of strangulation before the body was later decapitated. Oduor also revealed that the deceased's scalp was bruised by a blunt object.
Detectives at a dam in Kiambaa, Kiambu County where they recovered a human head on January 21, 2024. /VIRAL TEA KE
"The main findings were that the head had been chopped off from the neck at the level of C5 (vertebrae on the neck). There was bruising on the scalp caused by a blunt object,” said Oduor while addressing journalists.
“I can comfortably conclude that the cause of death was strangulation after which she was decapitated and her body dumped.”
The chief government pathologist also revealed that examinations of Waeni's neck structures revealed that the bones had some fractures.
"Upon examining the neck structures, we also saw some fractures of bones which are usually very important in homicides. One of the bones is called the hyoid bone, and there was also the thyroid cartilage bone which had some fractures and hemorrhage,” he explained.
The hyoid is the U-shaped bone of the neck which breaks during strangulation. The C5 provides sensation to the upper part of your upper arm down to your elbow, while the thyroid cartilage protects the vocal folds which are located directly behind it.
An initial postmortem on Waeni's body did not yield conclusive results due to the absence of the head at the time, with the pathologist's findings showing how well-calculated the killer orchestrated the murder, in a bid to conceal evidence.
According to Oduor, the head which was recovered from the Kiambaa Dam had stayed in the water for days, softening the skin's outer layer, hence concealing evidence of external marks.
"We shall establish if there were strangulation marks on the neck and whether there was blunt trauma as would be seen with bruises in the inner layer of the skin. Additionally, a DNA examination will help prove scientifically that the head belongs to the victim," he explained on Tuesday.
Waeni's killer, who is still on the run, was suspected to have dismembered the body to conceal any evidence.
The 20-year-old Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) student was murdered at a residential apartment in TRM Drive, Roysambu, and her body was found stuffed in a dumpster, minus the head.
Clipped Off Fingernails
Earlier post-mortem findings exposed the gruelling nature of the murder indicating 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. 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.
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."
Meanwhile, detectives suspect that the killing of Waeni was part of an ongoing occultism in the country, with the investigation team seeking to know if there are more such killings bearing similarities to that of Waeni.
“It looks like a ritual which I think was motivated by a cult-like belief,” an officer aware of the issue was quoted by The Star.
What We Know So Far
Two Nigerian suspects were arraigned at the Makadara Law Courts on Monday, January 22 after Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) investigations 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.
Two Nigerian suspects arraigned at the Makadara Law Courts on January 22, 2024. /KINYAN BOY.X
The Nigerian suspects were traced by the DCI’s CRIB detectives to an apartment in Ndenderu in Kiambu County where they were picked up on Sunday.
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.
