This archive report was first published on 11 July 2019.
On July 11, 2019, a gruesome discovery was made in Patanoni location, Kwale County, when passersby stumbled upon a decomposing body lying on a village track.
The victim, identified as Salim Sayid, the son of the local assistant chief, had been reported missing the previous week.
Police investigations revealed that the suspect, Morris Ndegwa, who later committed suicide, was married to Mwaka Kombo and suspected that she was having an affair with Sayid.
Ndegwa had allegedly intercepted some text messages three weeks before Sayid mysteriously disappeared, which led him to believe that his wife was cheating on him.
According to the police chief, Ndegwa had initiated a conversation with Sayid using his wife's phone to entrap him, and had even texted Sayid pretending to be his wife, asking him to pay her a visit.
When Sayid arrived, Ndegwa asked his wife to give them some space to talk over certain matters, and later, the two men left the house together, discussing in low tones.
However, when they returned without Sayid, Ndegwa's wife became suspicious, and when Sayid was reported missing, police and villagers mounted a search.
It was not until Wednesday of that week that the decomposing body was found, and Ndegwa was found hanging from a tree branch in the village path.
Police have taken into custody Mwaka Kombo and her son for questioning, and they will appear in court soon after an investigation into the murder is concluded.
