This archive report was first published on 16 November 2019.
On November 16, 2019, a tragic case of child custody gone wrong came to a devastating end with the discovery of the bodies of a mother and her two children in a shallow grave in Nanyuki, Kenya.
Major Peter Mugure, the main suspect in their disappearance, was arrested and questioned by police, leading them to the grave in Thingithu Estate.
The bodies were identified as those of Joyce Syombua, her two children Shanice Maua and Prince Michael, who went missing on October 26, 2019.
Citizen TV reported that the police discovered the bodies of the two children stacked atop their mother's in the grave.
According to reports, Syombua's mother Elizabeth Maua had gone to Soweto Police Station to report her daughter missing, and a friend, Farizana, had made the same report at Nanyuki Police station.
Police investigations revealed that Syombua's phone was found in a 4NTE matatu the next day, which they allegedly used to travel back to Kayole where they lived.
Reports also indicated that Syombua and Mugure, who had been in an on-and-off relationship for 13 years, had an agreement that Syombua would allow the children to regularly visit Mugure after the court granted Syombua sole custody of the children.
Call and text records showed that on October 25 and 26, Syombua regularly communicated with her female friend, telling her that Mugure had taken the children out, but did not return home with them.
