This archive report was first published on 30 June 2019.
On June 30, 2019, a gruesome discovery was made in Gitimbine, Meru, where the body parts of Joel Kaberia, a 45-year-old butcher, were found in a gunny bag at a rental house where he lived with his wife and their two-year-old child.
According to James Githinji, the Head of Directorate of Criminal Investigations for Imenti North Sub-county, the wife of the deceased, Bridget Gacheri, 22, was picked up as the first suspect in the case.
However, police were still pursuing more suspects, as Githinji explained that Gacheri and some other people had reported the matter of her missing husband at Meru Police Station before the body was discovered in their house.
‘We received a case of a missing person which later turned out to be death. The wife while accompanied by the deceased's friends had reported to us that he (Kaberia) was missing,’ the officer said.
Further investigation revealed that a co-worker of Kaberia’s had reported him as a missing person to the police after he missed work and his wife informed them she too did not know of his whereabouts.
‘We suspected something sinister and requested the landlord to allow us to break into the house. We discovered his body cut in pieces,’ said the source.
A police officer also recovered a hacksaw in the room, and neighbours reported that Kaberia and his wife had been having regular fights.
