Mystery surrounds death of KMTC student found in a hostel after she goes missing

Relatives of Lorraine Onkoba, a medical student at Kenya Medical Training Centre in Nakuru who was found dead at her hostel on December 23, 2019. [Harun Wathari/Standard]

A student who went missing last Wednesday, a day after the college she studied in closed for the holiday season, has been found dead.

The body of Loryne Onkoba was found in her room at the Kenya Medical Training College, Nakuru, yesterday afternoon.

The 18-year-old nursing student had called her mother Concepta Osinde, and grandmother Alice Onkoba last Wednesday at around 7am, informing them that she would travel home since the college had closed for December holidays.

At around 10am, her family members tried to reach her, but she did not answer calls to her mobile phone.

Failed to turn up

Her aunt Darlene Kidiavai said the family got concerned at 7pm after the student failed to turn up at their home in Keumbu, Kisii County.

Her phone was still ringing without response, prompting them to report the matter at Kaptembwo police station. Detectives contacted Safaricom, and were able to trace the mobile phone signal to the institution.

Nakuru West police commander Samson Gathuku told The Standard the body was dangling on a bed, with a rope tied around her neck, and there were no signs of struggle in the room.

The body, according to the family, was swollen, and blood was oozing from her private parts. They said they were told the door to the room where the body was found was locked from outside.

Something fishy

Yesterday, the door of the hostel was open, with a padlock hanging on it. "There's something fishy about this incident. How come the door was locked, and today, we found it open?" Vincent Osinde, an uncle to Loryne, posed.

The family believes the First Year student might have been brutally killed and later locked in the room.

When the institution's management was informed of the student's disappearance last Thursday, it denied knowledge of her whereabouts, saying she left on Wednesday after the college was closed.

Kidiavai accused the college management of reluctance to help, and withholding vital information about their kin, including saying it did not know her room number.

It took the initiative of her classmate to locate the room where the body was found.

"We sense she might have been killed and her body brought to the hostel," said Kidiavai.