Mysterious killings of two shock village

By EDWIN CHESEREK

Uasin Gishu County

Two elderly people were found murdered in mysterious circumstances in Turbo, Uasin Gishu County.

Christopher Tuwei and Elzeba Too, who were neighbours, were strangled by unknown assailants.

Residents discovered their bodies metres apart in a farm. The killings took place at Chebaywo village a few kilometres from Turbo trading centre.

Before the fateful night, Tuwei aged 55, had been invited by Cosmus Sugut, a neighbour.

Mr Sugut says they prayed together after taking tea at 9pm before he left for his homestead, which is a stone throw away.

Too, 48, on the other hand, had been living with her daughter who was identified only as Wamboi.

Wamboi claimed that people suspected to have killed her mother woke her up at around midnight on the fateful night.

"They knocked our door several times and my mother woke up. She put on her shoes and went out to check who was outside," she said.

Did not return

And when Wamboi heard many people speaking outside she decided to peep through the window, but only saw a man standing in the compound at the time her mother left the house.

She added that her mother did not return to the house for some hours, which triggered suspicion. "I went out and called her several times, but she did not answer and was nowhere to be seen," she said.

This was the last time the woman was seen alive. Though residents alleged the two had been having an affair, most of them are yet to establish the motive of the killings.

The man is said to have divorced his wife two years ago before he started a relationship with the woman, whose husband had died ten years earlier.

Villagers alleged that the widow had two children from the new relationship. Teresa Chepkwony, an elder, recalled a day when two of the woman’s sons beat the man after he slept in their house.

Uasin Gishu OCPD Paul Kiogora said investigation had been launched into the matter.

He added that no suspect had been arrested and asked those with information to volunteer to police.

The bodies were moved to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary, in Eldoret.