Mother held after her three children are found dead

Police in Mlolongo are holding a woman suspected of killing her three children in an alleged premeditated act following a domestic dispute.

The bodies, one-year-old twin girls and their four-year-old brother, were discovered on Monday inside a single-room house at Neema Plaza in Mlolongo Phase III, Machakos County.

According to neighbours, the children were poisoned after their parents had a violent dispute over the weekend. The mother, identified as Linet Murila, was later traced and arrested while escaping. She is being held at Mlolongo police station as DCI officers investigate.

According to a police report, the incident occurred on the night of January 25 or the early hours of January 26, 2026. The matter was reported at around 1pm on Monday by the caretaker of the residential building after she was alerted by a disturbing text message sent by the suspect shortly after she left the house.

“The suspect’s three children were found lying dead inside the house with foam emanating from their mouths,” stated a police report.

It is suspected the children were poisoned using a mixture of vim detergent. The scene was documented, samples were collected, and the bodies were removed to the City Mortuary, where post-mortem examinations are expected to establish the exact cause of death.

The suspect sent a cryptic message to her neighbour, asking her to go to the house in the company of the caretaker. “She wrote a message to her neighbour directing that we go and see what had happened in her house,” the caretaker, Rose Anadi, told The Standard.

Alarmed, the caretaker mobilised other tenants and headed to the house.

“When we arrived, the door was wide open. I entered first and checked on one child. I immediately realised the child had passed on. That is when I called the police,” she said.