Nairobi — Detectives have arrested the prime suspect linked to the gruesome murder of a couple in Nyamira County, which was reported on March 21, 2023.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said the 40-year-old suspect Denis Ondara, who was armed with a Ceska pistol loaded with 14 rounds of ammunition, was apprehended following a 4-day chase that ended at the Isebania border in Migori County.
"The sleuths from the Homicide department pounced on the armed and dangerous suspect this afternoon, shortly before he crossed the border to evade justice," DCI.
On the morning following the murder, the country woke up to the shocking news of a couple that had been brutally murdered in Nyamakoroto village in Keroka, Masaba North Sub-County in Nyamira County.
Edward Morema Nyangechi, 62, and Grace Mong'ina Morema, 58, both based in the US, were found murdered in the house after they failed to turn up for breakfast by 10am on the fateful morning.
The couple lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. According to the initial report filed at Gesima Police Station, the house help Silvia Barongo, 19, was the first to become suspicious before she called the farmhand 30-year-old Jeremiah Bosire and together they raised alarm attracting the attention of other villagers.
It is while the villagers were conducting search that the lifeless body of the woman was discovered sprawled on a bed in a pool of blood in one of the bedrooms, while the man's body was found in the garage.
According to the agency, the bodies bore deep cuts on their heads while their legs and hands were tied together using electric cables.
Murder by strangulation
An autopsy report released later by the government pathologist indicated that the two died as a result of strangulation and blunt object injuries on their heads and upper limbs.
Investigation into the incident was immediately launched as the DCI Director Mohamed Amin ordered a comprehensive probe into the murder most horrid, prompting the deployment of the extremely efficient homicide sleuths.
Four days ago, the team of detectives received information that the main suspect had been spotted in Ruai, where he had gone into hiding after the incident.
The officers moved with speed and as they were closing in on him, he slipped their dragnet by the skin of his teeth.
But unbeknownst to the suspect, the detectives were on his trail.
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"Today at 3pm, the sleuths posing as hawkers along the border struck in one swift move and whisked the armed suspect away without firing a single shot, leaving a cloud of dust whirl in their wake," the DCI said.
Upon searching the suspect, 14 more rounds of 9mm calibre were recovered, assorted spanners, nuts, screw drivers and pliers all used for breaking into parked vehicles.
The suspect is also believed to be behind a number of reported robbery with violence and murder incidents in Nairobi, Nyamira, Kisii and Migori counties. So far, 3 suspects have been arrested in connection with the twin murders.
DCI stated that the successful investigation into the case was also made possible through the research and analysis conducted by detectives based at the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau, and the Cyber Forensics team from the DCI National Forensic Laboratory, that placed the main suspect at the scene of the murder on the night of the attack.
