This archive report was first published on 27 July 2020.
Murder at Kilimani Apartment: A Tale of Two Deaths ¶
On February 12, 2012, Careen Chepchumba, a 26-year-old employee of Kenya Power, was found dead in her apartment at Santonia Court in Kilimani, Nairobi. The government pathologist, Dr. Johansen Oduor, revealed that Careen died of strangulation, with blood found in her eyes and neck muscles due to pressure applied on her neck by her killers.
Fast forward to July 17, 2020, when the body of Sheila Njeri Murage, 33, was discovered in the flowerbed of the same apartment complex. A postmortem examination report revealed that Sheila was sexually assaulted and died as a result of head injuries due to blunt force trauma.
Three suspects, Christine Aluoch, Claire Ng'eno, and Shem Mang'ula, were arraigned in court on July 23. While Aluoch and Ng'eno were released on Sh100,000 bail, Mang'ula was remanded for DNA profiling. The investigation is ongoing, with police pursuing crucial witnesses and other possible suspects.
The incident has raised concerns about safety and security in the area, with police calling on owners of structures to install CCTV cameras to help in such incidents. The apartments belong to a politician, and guards said they did not see any other party get in and out of the compound to suggest an intruder committed the murder.
