This archive report was first published on 18 November 2019.
On November 16, 2019, detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and Military Police found the bodies of Joyce Syombua, 31, and her children Shanice Maua, 10, and Prince Michael, 5, buried in a shallow grave at Thingithu Estate in Nanyuki.
The discovery was made after Major Peter Mwaura of Laikipia Airbase in Nanyuki, the main suspect in the suspected triple homicide, led police to the scene.
Major Mwaura had been arrested on Thursday by military police and handed over to the DCI.
After more than 24 hours of questioning at Nanyuki Police Station and at his house inside the army barracks, the suspect led police to an abandoned cemetery in Thingithu Estate, barely a kilometre from the army base.
Police found three gunny bags containing the body of an adult and two children, who were tied up using plastic ropes and piled onto each other inside the shallow grave.
Laikipia County Criminal Investigations Officer (CCIO) Peter Muinde declined to confirm if the bodies found were of the missing woman and her two children, stating that forensic tests were needed to identify the bodies.
Major Mwaura had initially told the police that Ms Syombua left for Nairobi with the children in a matatu, but later claimed that he had left the children with a friend because he wanted to have a private conversation with his estranged wife.
He had also alleged that he took Syombua and the children to Nanyuki bus terminus where they boarded a 4NTE Sacco matatu to Nairobi, but the trio never arrived at their home in Kayole, Nairobi, raising suspicion over their safety.
