US Woman Wants Ruto To Find Kenyan Man Who Fled With Daughter

A Kenyan man has been put on the spot after his estranged wife from the United States (US) appealed to President William Ruto's administration to help her track him down as he fled with her six-year-old daughter.

The woman, Emely Sarita Castillo, spoke to Viral Tea and revealed that her Kenyan husband has a warrant of arrest issued against him and has been missing since Wednesday, October 12.

Sarita added that the entire saga began in the United States (US) meaning the man is also being sought after by the American authorities.

"I have a missing child sequestrated by her father. Now he has a warrant of arrest and he has gone missing. This whole thing started in the United States so also the USA is looking for him," she told Viral Tea.

Collage of Emely Sarita Castillo and Kenyan husband, Ndiritu Wachira Muriuki. /VIRALTEAKE

When further probed by this writer, Sarita disclosed the identity of the man as Ndiritu Wachira Muriuki, who was ordered to hand over custody of the child by Senior Resident Magistrate Festus Terer as well as all her travel documents to the mother.

Sarita was granted orders allowing her to travel to New Jersey in the United States of America, where she resides with the minor. Terer additionally ordered that the custody arrangements of the minor be dealt with as per the laws of the USA.

The American flew to Kenya three weeks ago to pick up her daughter but lamented that Muriuki ran away with her despite the warrant of arrest against him.

"I'm begging you guys to look for him because I really need to be with my daughter. I really need help.

"I was granted custody from Kenya and she needs to be back home, we need to go back to the United States (US) as soon as possible," she appealed while speaking to the media.

Sarita claimed that Muriuki had abducted her child and flown with her without an American passport, explaining that she decided to fly to Kenya to pick her up as she had no idea of how he managed to leave the US with her.

She claimed that Muriuki does not want to return her daughter, adding that she has no clue of their whereabouts or her daughter's welfare.

"What happened was that he abducted my baby, he flew with her without an American passport. I'm still holding her American passport, I don't know how he took her out of the country so I flew to Kenya, this is my first time picking her up as today's date (Thursday, October 13).

"I was given custody but he is running away, he doesn't want to return my daughter back so I don't know exactly where she is, I don't know if she's well if she's crying...I don't know where she is," she lamented.

She is appealing to Kenyans and President Ruto's government to come to her aid; to find her daughter and get back home.

In court documents she filed, the child was born on October 18, 2015, before she and Muriuki were married. The two solemnised their union on March 22, 2016, but later got divorced in 2020.

After the divorce, the two signed a parental agreement granting them shared physical custody of the child. However, Muriuki had on August 1 ruined plans to take the minor to the Dominican Republic to meet Sarita's parents and relatives since the minor had been to Kenya three times previously.

Muriuki was said to have subsequently brought the child to Kenya without Sarita's consent, breaching the shared custody agreement. The child was meant to report to school on September 6, 2022, but this was not possible as she was still in Kenya.