This archive report was first published on 16 November 2019.
On November 16, 2019, a shocking discovery was made in Nanyuki, Kenya, when the bodies of a military officer's estranged wife and their two children were found buried in a shallow grave.
The bodies, believed to be those of Joyce Syombua, 31, and her children Shanice Maua, 10, and Prince Michael, 5, were discovered after Major Peter Mwaura, a Laikipia Airbase officer, was arrested and led detectives to the scene.
According to Laikipia County Criminal Investigations Officer Peter Muinde, the bodies were found in an abandoned cemetery in Thingithu Estate, barely a kilometre from the army base, after a 30-minute analysis and digging.
Major Mwaura had initially told police that Ms Syombua left for Nairobi with the children in a matatu, but an investigation revealed that the matatu never made a trip to Nairobi, and a discovery of her mobile phone inside a matatu opened a can of worms into what turned out to be a brutal triple homicide and a well-calculated cover-up.
Major Mwaura claimed that he had left the children with a friend because he wanted to have a private conversation with his estranged wife, but a statement from a classified witness revealed that the army officer had sent him to buy three gunny bags.
