This archive report was first published on 17 November 2019.
On November 16, 2019, a gruesome discovery was made in Thingithu, Laikipia East, when the bodies of a mother and her two children were found buried in a shallow grave at Kilimo Indians' cemetery.
The victims were identified as Joyce Syombua, 31, and her children, Shanice, 10, and Prince Michael, 5, who had gone missing on October 26 after visiting their ex-lover, Maj Peter Mugure, at Laikipia Airbase in Nanyuki.
According to Laikipia County Criminal Investigations Officer (CCIO) Peter Muinde, the three were poisoned before being brutally murdered inside Mugure's house at the military camp.
Police investigation revealed that the children were drugged before their mother was strangled to death, with deep cuts found on their bodies.
Interrogation of the suspects, including Mugure and a cleaner based at Laikipia Airbase, revealed that they had planned and executed the heinous crime together.
Police acted on a tip-off from a taxi driver who had been asked by Mugure to carry out a task at the airbase, but he declined.
After failing to get the taxi driver's help, Mugure opted to use his vehicle to ferry the bodies to Kilimo, where they were buried about a metre deep.
The cleaner helped Mugure bury the bodies, and mobile communication data obtained by police showed that the two had lengthy conversations before the bodies were removed from the house.
The bodies were taken to Nanyuki Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary, while Mugure was held at Timau and the cleaner at Nanyuki police cells.
