National

Wanted fugitive Kevin Kang'ethe rearrested

Murder suspect Kevin Kinyanjui Kang'ethe pictured after his arrest on February 13, 2024. (Photo: DCI)

By Dennis Tarus | Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Kang'ethe was arrested on Tuesday evening in Ngong, Kajiado County.

Murder suspect Kevin Kang'ethe has been rearrested after his daring escape last week from police custody.

Kang'ethe is the main suspect in the murder of his girlfriend Margaret Mbitu whom he is accused of killing and dumping the body in a car parked at an airport in the United States.

Keep reading

According to Nairobi police boss Adamson Bungei, Kang'ethe was arrested on Tuesday evening in Ngong, Kajiado County.

"He will now be taken to court to face charges of escaping from lawful custody as he awaits extradition," he said.

"The escapee was taken to custody last night following a scrupulous intelligence-led operation within Ngong township in Kajiado County," DCI said in a statement on Wednesday.

The US had filed its extradition request through the office of the Attorney General and the criminal division of the Department of Justice's Office of International Affairs.

A Nairobi court had approved a police application for him to be detained for 30 days while the extradition case was being heard.

Wanted murder suspect Kevin Kinyanjui Kang'ethe pictured after his arrest on February 13, 2024. (Photo: DCI)

The fugitive who had been arrested at a club in Nairobi on January 30 escaped from Muthaiga Police Station on February 7 while allegedly seeing his lawyer at the station.

Officers interdicted

The National Police Service interdicted four police officers who were on duty at the police station when Kang'ethe escaped.

Kang'ethe is wanted by the Chelsea District Court in Massachusetts to face first-degree murder charges for violating Massachusetts General Law Chapter 265, section 1 under the laws of the USA.

Court documents say that the fugitive, who has been on the run for the last two months, is said to have killed Mbitu on October 31, 2023, by stabbing her multiple times in the face and neck.

He is alleged to have left the body in a locked car in a parking garage at Boston International Airport before fleeing the US.

After finding the body on November 1 at around 6.30 pm, Massachusetts State Police issued an arrest warrant for Kang'ethe on November 2 and urged the suspect to surrender.