This archive report was first published on 16 November 2019.
On November 11, 2019, the lifeless body of Kenya Rose Chebii, a 29-year-old woman with Kenyan roots, was found floating in the Intracoastal Waterway in St. Augustine, Florida.
According to the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office, Chebii was last seen walking in the downtown area of St. Augustine around the Washington Street area at 5:35 am on the same day.
Her body was discovered by a water vessel at 8:30 am, and preliminary autopsy results established the cause of death as drowning with no injuries or indications of foul play observed.
"We need to determine: Did she go swimming? Was the water cold? Was it a hypothermia issue?" said Chuck Mulligan, a spokesperson for the Sheriff's Office.
Chebii was born and raised in Florida to a Kenyan father and an American mother and was in the process of acquiring Kenyan citizenship. She recently graduated with a certificate in pharmacy from a college in St. Augustine shores, Florida.
Her family planned to bury her in Kenya, and her cousin, Ray Mutai, remembered her as someone who always kept in touch with her Kenyan relatives, with the last visit being in 2015.
