Tharaka Nithi: Another Missing Blogger Found Dead

Shock has gripped Kenya's blogosphere again after the body of Peris Mugera, a political commentator and blogger in Tharaka Nithi County, was found in Kirinyaga County on Monday, March 4.

Details surrounding the development did not emerge until Friday, March 8 when authorities confirmed the discovery of Mugera's body.

Her family members accompanying Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers from Tharaka Nithi also confirmed that the body was hers. This is after images surfaced on the internet showing the body of a female adult lying dead in Kirinyaga.

The incident was first reported at Rukanga police station by members of the public on March 1, 2024, who alerted officers of an unknown body of a female adult lying along the Sagana-Makutano Highway.

Peris Mugera, a mother of two from Chuka town in Tharaka-Nithi district, who was found dead on March 4, 2024. /K24 DIGITAL

“It was reported today at 0800hrs that along Makutano-Sagana highway there was a body of an unknown female adult lying on the road. Police officers led by OCS Kiamaciri police station, DCI officers and CSI from Kerugoya rushed to the scene and confirmed that the body of an unknown female adult aged approximately 30 years was found lying dead on the roadside," the police report revealed, adding that the body was found with bruises on the forehead.

The report added that the late Mugera was dressed in black tight leather trousers and red canvas shoes.

The scene was documented and fingerprints were taken for the identification process whereas the body was removed and taken to Kerugoya mortuary awaiting post-mortem and identification.

Mugera went missing on February 29, 2024, and her family members and friends reported her missing on March 4, 2024, at Chuka police station, Tharaka Nithi County.

Tharaka Nithi County Commissioner, Wesley Koech in a media briefing, asked members of the family and residents to remain calm as investigations go on, saying that they couldn’t immediately establish what led to Mugera’s death.

"The photos and posts doing rounds on social media this morning were indeed posted on the 1st of March, meaning that Mugera might have met her death between the 29th and 1st of March, 2024. We can’t tell the cause of her death at the moment but investigations are still ongoing,” he said.

Mugera was said to have left home on February 29, to meet a friend before going to work but did not return.

Her two children aged 15 and six raised the alarm on Saturday, March 2, 2024, after their mother failed to return and raised the issue with the landlord who informed Mugera’s friends.

Police investigations revealed that her phone was switched off at Kathoge, in Kirinyaga County at 2 am on Friday, March 1.

Mugera was a chief strategist and campaign planner for the late Felix Gitari Mbiuki, a former Machakos County Assembly clerk and gubernatorial aspirant in Tharaka Nithi County who was found dead on July 18, 2023, along Mati Road in Kanganga Village, Embu County.

Her death comes as the case for another murdered blogger, Meru County's Daniel Muthiani, alias Sniper, is ongoing in court.

On Friday, January 26, detectives from the DCI's Homicide unit recovered the vehicle allegedly used to kidnap the late blogger before he was brutally murdered in December 2023.

"The DCI Homicide detectives yesterday recovered the vehicle that was used to abduct the late Daniel Muthiani Benard alias Sniper and later dispose of his body at Mutonga River in the Chiakariga area of Tharaka Nithi on December 2, 2023," stated the DCI in part at the time.

The detectives termed the identification and subsequent recovery of the vehicle, a silver Toyota Premio, a monumental one as they utilised forensic analysis of crucial leads that were gathered, which pointed to a residential place in the Canopy area of Kithoka, Meru County.

The investigating team further established that Vincent Mureithi Kirimi, alias Supuu, had hired and driven the vehicle on the date of Sniper's abduction and murder.

A post-mortem done by government pathologist Johansen Oduor on the deceased revealed that he died of strangulation, with Sniper’s kin urging the relevant authorities to do further investigations.

According to the pathologist, Sniper had marks on his neck and he exhibited signs of a person who had lacked oxygen as well as fractured ribs and injuries on his head which suggested that he was strangled before being thrown into a river.

Following the establishment of the cause of death, Sniper's spouse maintained her stance that she would not lay her husband to rest until justice was served. However, Sniper was then laid to rest on January 5, at his home in Meru County as the detectives opened a court case.

Since then, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) approved murder charges against Supuu and Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza's brother, Murangiri Kenneth Guantai, alias Tali after DCI forwarded an inquiry file to the ODPP for perusal and advice.