Police appeal for help to trace Rita Waeni murder suspect

Police have released a video that captured a man believed to have lured university student Rita Waeni Muendo and killed her in cold blood in an apartment in Roysambu area on January 15.

Waeni, a former Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) student, was brutally murdered and her body dismembered by a man who also demanded a Sh500,000 ransom from her father for her release.

The video released by the detectives from DCI captured the woman in her last moments before she was murdered.

She is seen walking alongside the man in Roysambu area to the apartment where the murder took place.

As a result, police have asked members of public to help in identifying the suspected killer. He is captured wearing a white hat, black jeans and black pullover and white shoes.

Waeni was buried at her parents’ home in Mukimwani Village, Kisau location, Makueni on February 5. The owner of the apartment told police the perceived killer secured the room on Saturday, January 13 at 3pm.

It was not until the next day that the discovery was made, after the caretaker reported finding suspicious polythene bags and a blood-soaked bed sheet on the staircase.

The family later came out to reveal that Waeni had left her aunt’s house in Syokimau to meet a friend.

Officers who visited the scene found the dismembered body without a head, which was later found in a dam in Kiambu.

The head was identified by the family on January 25 during an autopsy procedure conducted by Chief Government Pathologist Dr Johansen Oduor who stated that the findings indicated that Waeni died of strangulation before she was brutally dismembered by her killer who is believed to have used a hacksaw.

The killer had also sent a photo of the deceased, while lying down, using her phone as he prepared to kill her using a hacksaw as part of efforts to push them to send the money he had demanded.