Muthoni planned to escape abusive marriage the night she and her four children were murdered

Residents of Kathata village in Kirinyaga mill around the scene where a man killed his wife and four children. [Courtesy]

Before the night Millicent Muthoni was murdered with her four children, she had visited her parents' home with her thirteen-year-old daughter. With her was a bag full of her clothes and those of her other children -- and she announced that she was ready to come back home without the consent of her husband.

This information was revealed by Muthoni's elder brother Patrick Njiru, the family spokesperson, who said that on that Sunday, Muthoni had spoken to their eldest brother Mugo, who was in the compound. She told him that she did not have plans to say in her matrimonial home because her husband, Paul Murage, had threatened her with death on Saturday night.