Crucial leads into Rita Waeni's murder as head recovered

Detectives on Monday made a second visit to the dam in Kiambaa where a human head believed to be that of Rita Waeni was recovered on Sunday evening.

The investigators are now focusing on CCTV footage around the dam with the hope of ascertaining the individual(s) who dumped the head there.

While at Kasarani DCI offices, the family of Waeni held a brief meeting with investigators probing the murder.

After the visit, the family together with an investigator proceeded to the city mortuary to view the recovered head. The police want the family to confirm whether head belongs to their relative.

One of the three relatives who went to identify the head told The Standard that the forehead of the head resembled that of the Waeni.

Although the relatives declined to identify themselves, they proceeded to Karuri Police Station in Kiambaa in the company of detectives.

Police want the relatives to help in identifying clothes recovered alongside the head.

"We have seen the head and its forehead resembles that of Rita. We are now going to Karuri Police Station to identify the clothes that the head was wrapped in,” said an emotional female relative.

The latest development came as detectives sought to conduct DNA analysis today (Tuesday) to confirm that indeed the recovered head is that of Waeni.

At Karuri Police Station, the family members family members and a team of police officers inspected few garments at the station.

Among the clothes were a black coloured jacket and a pink blouse which were then taken back into a vehicle within the precincts of the police station.

Karuri Sub County Police Commander Pius Mwanthi told The Standard that the postmortem and DNA analysis will be done today in bid to compare with findings from their colleagues in Kasarani.

“The postmortem will be conducted on Tuesday. We want to compare Kasarani findings and our findings to have a conclusive answer," said Mwanthi.

On Sunday, the head which was believed to be that of the slain JKUAT student was discovered at Kiambaa dam in Kiambu by a resident who alerted the area chief who in turn informed the authorities.

Chief Simon Kang’ethe reported that he had received information from village elder Kimuga village Joseph Thara that, a human head had been seen floating in Ite Dam at Kimuga village, Kimuga sub-location, Kiambaa location.

A visit by Police officers at the scene found a decomposing human head of unknown female adult which was retrieved about five meters floating in the dam.

The head was wrapped in a purple female blouse then put in green carrier bag with a stone in it to make it sink.

The scene was processed by DCI officers from Kiambaa Sub County who took it to city mortuary for preservation pending identification and autopsy.

Waeni was killed by unknown person in Roysambu and her body stuffed in a dustbin. Also found missing on the body was her finger nails which had been clipped off.

Last week, a postmortem on the body was conducted at the city mortuary. Government pathologist Dr Johansen Odour revealed that Waeni’s killers, were brutal and heartless.

After the examination, Odour told journalists that the killers of Waeni even went ahead to clip off her fingernails in an apparent attempt to tamper with any DNA evidence.

"This person who did all these also tried to clip off the fingernails for reasons which I might not be able to know but for us scientists when we see fingernails clipped off, we think probably the person was trying to hide evidence so that we are unable to get his DNA from the victim," said Oduor. 

"I don't know why but in investigations, such nails help in gathering evidence. People fight when dying and DNA evidence can be hidden there," Oduor said.

However, all is not lost. The pathologist said there were remnants of some fingernails and that samples had been taken for further analysis to help the DCI with investigations.

[Report by Kamore Maina, Collins Kweyu and George Njung’e]