Chilling murders that shook Kenya in 2022

While many of the murders that occurred this year were as a result of opportunistic crimes, some were so controversial that they generated a lot of publicity due to the personalities involved and circumstances surrounding the killings. From bodies being retrieved from rivers or collected in thickets to spousal deaths, the country recorded high-profile murders. Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif The death of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif, for instance, hit international headlines and almost sparked a diplomatic row between Kenya and Pakistan. Sharif was killed in October while being driven back to Nairobi after spending time at a shooting range in Magadi, Kajiado County. The Toyota Land Cruiser he was travelling in was sprayed with bullets at a roadblock mounted by police following an earlier 'false' alert that the vehicle had been stolen. Police officers mounting the roadblock opened fire when the driver allegedly defied orders to stop when flagged down. Police later expressed regret regarding Sharif's killing, saying it was a case of mistaken identity during a search for a stolen car of similar make. The 49-year-old top Pakistani journalist was in exile after fleeing from his country where he was wanted for sedition. A team dispatched from Islamabad to Nairobi to probe the killing recently said Sharif's murder was premeditated. And when police were still smarting from the journalist's murder, their own was executed by a bouncer at a popular entertainment joint in the lakeside city of Kisumu. Barack Onyango Odour, Ida Odinga's bodyguard Barack Onyango Odour, the bodyguard of Ida, wife of opposition leader Raila Odinga, was shot dead at Victoria Gardens Estate in Riat in the outskirts of Kisumu town. The police officer was in the company of a woman and another man. Although the motive of the killing remains unknown, one Collins Oundo Okundi was linked to Onyango's death. Onyango and his two friends were walking home after partying for the better part of the night when Oundo, the bouncer, confronted them. A brief scuffle ensued before Oundo snatched Onyango's pistol, fired at the victim and fled before surrendering days later to police in Eldoret. Gladys Chania's engineer George Mwangi Away from the Kisumu incident, Kiambu residents were left in shock following the discovery of the body of engineer George Mwangi who was the husband to a local politician, Gladys Chania. The man had gone missing for two days after he disappeared from his home in Mang'u. The mutilated body, which had been wrapped in a polythene bag was found dumped in Kieni Forest of Gatundu North. Chania had made a missing person report at Kamwangi Police Station and later that evening at Mwea Police Post. Alongside a new farmhand identified as Morris Kamau Mbugua, Chania was later linked to the murder after preliminary investigations established that Mwangi, an electrical engineer and contractor based in Rwanda, was killed in his Mang'u house. An autopsy report showed that the victim was hit with a blunt object on the back of his head. The engineer's long-serving farmhand, John Muikiriria Mwangi, who had gone missing was arrested and turned into a state witness. Brian Olunga Vs Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa The fatal shooting on voting day on August 9 of Brian Olunga, an aide to Kimilili aspirant Brian Khaemba, was equally jaw-dropping. Khaemba who was seeking to dethrone Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa on a Democratic Action Party of Kenya (DAP-K) was confronted by his main rival at Chebukwabi polling station where he gone to check on the voting exercise. It is said he found the incumbent already there and decided to leave immediately. But Barasa accompanied by four men followed Khaemba and ordered the former Kiambu magistrate not to leave. Khaemba's driver, Joshua Nasokho, defied and attempted to driver off. It is alleged that the MP drew his pistol and fired at Olunga who succumbed to injuries at Kimilili Sub County Hospital where he had been rushed. Barasa went into hiding for days before surrendering at the Bungoma Police station, hours after the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) declared him "wanted". Returning Officer Daniel Musyoka This came as Embakasi East Returning Officer Daniel Musyoka, 53, went missing while on duty at the East African School of Aviation tallying centre. Musyoka remained missing for almost a week before his body was found in Kilombero Forest at Oloitoktok, Kajiado County. The body was naked, though a tracksuit and Maasai shuka were found at the scene where detectives noticed visible signs of struggle and torture. "It is evident that the victim was killed elsewhere and the body dumped in the valley. The body has scars indicating torture before the death. He possibly died a painful death," said Oloitoktok police commander, Kipruto Ruto. Naneu Muthoni Not long after, the body of Naneu Muthoni was found in her boyfriend Thomas Mbugua Muthee's house in Onyonka Estate, Langata, in Nairobi. Muthoni, 31, left her parents' house in Southlands promising to return later only to be found dead a two days later when relatives became suspicious about her whereabouts. Muthoni's naked body, which had several stab wounds, was found lying on the couch after the house was broken into. Meanwhile, Mbugua was missing. A security guard said he spotted him leaving the estate while carrying a small bag. The man was arrested five days later at the Kenya-Malaba border. Detectives from the Nairobi Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau tracked Mbugua to the border town where he is said to have been attempting to cross over into Uganda. They found Mbugua with a passport at the ready and said he was in the process of being cleared when the sleuths pounced. The year ended with the High Court finding three policemen and a civilian of the gruesome murder of a human rights lawyer Willie Kimani and two other people in June 2016.

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