Police in Naivasha are holding four people, including two elderly sisters, in connection with the killing of a 52-year-old woman a fortnight ago.
The deceased, who is a sister-in-law to the two arrested women, was killed following a property row between her family members and her body dumped along the busy Maai-Mahiu-Naivasha highway.
Detectives probing the bizarre killing are following crucial leads that might lead to the arrest of two other suspects who escaped when the police arrested the two men, believed to be the masterminds behind the killing.
“We believe we have the right people in custody. They are giving us crucial details pertaining to the killing,” said an officer conducting the investigations.
The two men were apprehended two weeks ago when they were found loitering at the busy Kariuki Chotara road in Naivasha with members of the public alerting the police on suspecting them to be criminals.
“We rushed to the scene and arrested the two while two escaped the police dragnet,” said the Naivasha District Criminal Investigations Officer (DCIO) Martin Mbaya.
The two suspects, who hail from Kariobangi in Nairobi County, claimed they wanted to have their Probox car repaired, but could not produce valid documents indicating they were genuine owners of the vehicle.
They were first charged in court with possessing a stolen vehicle after recording statements with the police. Interestingly, the relatives of the deceased arrived in Naivasha two days later and positively identified the body as that of Lucy Wambui who had been reported missing from the same Kariobangi area days earlier.
“We got suspicious and thought the two incidents might be having some relations and started piecing together intelligence reports,” said Mbaya. Further search in the seized vehicle unearthed one earring that matched with one donned by the deceased the day she went missing from an entertainment joint in Kariobangi. She was allegedly last seen in the company of two men.
Police have now traced the killing to a property row that rocked a Kikuyu-based family which is embroiled in a tussle following the selling of an estate worth more than Sh6 million at Kidfarmaco area in Kikuyu.
The slain woman is said to have been left out during the sharing of the estate’s proceeds despite being listed as a beneficiary, sparking bad blood between her and other family members.
Mbaya said: “So far we have been able to unravel the mystery behind the killing. We are however casting our net wider.” he said.