DCI arrests prime suspect in TUK don murder

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters on Kiambu Road on June 17, 2022. [File]

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has arrested the prime suspect in the murder of Technical University of Kenya (TUK) lecturer Edgar Mokua.

This follows an intensive forensic investigation that reconstructed his final movements and linked a getaway vehicle to the crime.

The suspect, identified as Richard Gikuhe Mbugua, was arrested at Blue Estate in Ruiru after homicide detectives traced a grey Toyota Ractis, registration number KBZ 002R, believed to have been used to dump Mokua's body along Kamiti Road before speeding away.

The vehicle was later recovered at Murera Farm in Juja and has since been detained as a key exhibit in the ongoing investigations.

The DCI said the arrest followed weeks of forensic analysis and intelligence-led investigations that enabled detectives to piece together the lecturer's final hours before his death.

"Homicide detectives have arrested a suspect linked to the brutal murder of Edgar Mokua, a lecturer at the Technical University of Kenya (TUK), whose body was recovered days after he mysteriously disappeared from his Lavington home," the DCI said in a statement.

Mokua was last seen alive on July 6, 2026, when he left his residence at Princes Park in Lavington at about 4:20 p.m. After he failed to return home and repeated efforts to reach him proved unsuccessful, his family reported him missing at Muthangari Police Station.

A day after his disappearance, officers from Kiamumbi Police Station recovered an unidentified body along Kamiti Road near Woodcreek Academy and transferred it to the Nairobi City Mortuary.

It was not until July 11 that relatives positively identified the body as that of the missing university lecturer.

Homicide detectives took over the investigations and embarked on reconstructing Mokua's movements on the night he disappeared.

According to investigators, Mokua spent several hours at Kettle Club in Lavington before proceeding to Ibiza Club at Lavington Mall at around 11 p.m. in the company of two men and a woman.

While at the club, detectives established that Mokua struck up a conversation with another woman who was seated alone at the counter. At approximately 3:30 a.m., the group he had arrived with left the club, leaving him behind.

"Moments later, he joined the woman at the counter.  CCTV footage later captured the pair leaving the club together at around 4:41 a.m., with Mokua carrying two tumblers," the DCI said.

The two were then seen boarding the grey Toyota Ractis, which investigators later identified as the vehicle used to transport and dump Mokua's body.

"Thanks to forensic intelligence, investigators established that a grey Toyota Ractis with the registration number KBZ 002R was the vehicle responsible for dropping Mokua's body at the scene before speeding away," the DCI said.

Investigators said forensic evidence placed Mbugua at the crime scene, leading to his arrest after an extensive manhunt.

Although a post-mortem examination was conducted, pathologists were unable to conclusively establish the cause of death.

Detectives have therefore ordered toxicological analysis to determine whether Mokua may have been drugged before his death.