Distraught Mother Identifies Daughter Among Bodies Recovered in Kware.

On June 28, 2024, 24-year-old Roseline Akoth went missing in the Kware area of Pipeline, where she lived with her sister-in-law, Judith Akoth.

It was her third month in Nairobi, where she had come to find a job to support herself and her three children, who were staying with her mother in their rural home in Luo Nyanza.

Her disappearance caused great distress in her family, as repeated attempts to contact her proved futile. Initially, her phone would ring and be answered, but no one spoke on the other end. After a few days, her phone was permanently switched off.

Weeks later, the discovery of dead bodies at an abandoned quarry in the Kware area, Mukuru Slums in Nairobi, prompted the family to investigate if Roseline could be among them.

On Sunday, Roseline’s mother, Benta Awuor Ogongo, left the village for the city to assist in the identification process. Their worst fears were confirmed on Monday when they identified Roseline’s upper body among the brutally murdered and dismembered victims.

The discovery meant the family had to record statements at the DCI headquarters, where they found Roseline’s handbag among the exhibits in DCI possession. Her sister-in-law, Judith, identified a sock in the handbag as Roseline’s.

Further investigations led the DCI to the house of the prime suspect, Collins Jumaisi Khalusha, where they discovered another sock matching the one found at DCI. The suspect’s house, still an active crime scene, yielded more items critical to the ongoing probe, including a sisal and manila rope, a notebook with hospital receipts, a blood-stained hammer, a dressing mirror with fingerprints, a mattress, a blood-stained pillow, a red t-shirt, a pair of pliers, two kitchen knives, four pairs of women’s shoes, and a sack.

Keran Khavere, mother to Alaine Akhaleye, who went missing in May 2023, is also among those searching for their loved ones. Keran and Alaine lived together in Sinai slum, Embakasi, and Alaine worked with a company exporting vegetables at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

“I have looked at the bodies but haven’t seen any resembling her,” she told the media outside City Mortuary. She has provided her DNA and is awaiting results to determine if her daughter is among the recovered body parts.

As of Monday, a total of ten bodies had been recovered from the dumpsite, awaiting postmortem at the Nairobi Funeral Home, formerly City Mortuary. Families with missing loved ones have arrived to identify their kin from the retrieved bodies.

Police suggest the suspect targeted women to avenge the bad ending of his relationship with his late wife. “He seems to have acted out of rage, and this is linked to the way he killed his wife first,” said Amin.