Kenyan Engineering student found dead in the US

Erick Kang’ethe who was found dead in a car.  [Courtesy]

In under four months, another Kenyan student has died at a university in the United States of America.

Erick Kang’ethe, a computer engineering student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, was on Wednesday found dead at the campus.

The university police found his body lying in the vicinity of McGuirk Alumni Stadium at night, campus spokesperson Mary Dettloff said.

“We extend our sincere condolences to Erick’s family and friends,” associate vice chancellor and interim dean of students for the university David Vaillancourt said in a statement to the campus community.

The cause of death has not yet been disclosed and Massachusetts State Police say investigations into Eric’s death are ongoing.

The region’s district attorney’s office spokesperson Mary Carey said the death was non-criminal in nature and they did not suspect any foul play.

His family said they last contacted Erick, who is described as having a goal of pursuing a master's degree in Security Engineering, on Sunday.

MassLive.Com, a newspaper based in Springfield, Massachusetts, reported that Eric was born in Nairobi before his family moved to Massachusetts where he graduated from Doherty Memorial High School in Worcester.

“Kang’ethe spent time volunteering with Worcester-based organization Cultural Exchange through Soccer. He was involved in the organization’s youth team, Worcester World Cup and received a scholarship from Cultural Exchange through Soccer this year,” the news outlet said.

Erick’s death comes barely four months after another Kenyan student was found dead at Stanford University in near similar circumstances.

Norah Jelagat Borus, the best girl in Nairobi County in the 2013 KCSE results, was on June 14 found dead at her on-campus residence in the US.

She was the fourth-best student nationally.

Borus sat her KCSE exam at Precious Blood Secondary School, Riruta, and joined California-based Stanford University to study engineering. 

Borus’s death was the fourth reported at the prestigious Stanford in 2019.