The family of a Kenyan university student who went missing 13 years ago says it has not lost hope of finding their daughter.
Nelly Njeri whose second-born daughter, Ruth Karugi Kaigua mysteriously disappeared in April 2007 says not a single day passes without thinking about her whereabouts and her wellbeing. She is always in tears whenever she prepares food for her children.
“I always wonder whether she is okay. Does she has something to eat,” a teary Njeri said during an interview with Capital News.
Njeri and her husband Abraham Kaigua say they are still waiting for their daughter to come back.
“We are ready to receive our daughter back home. This is where she belongs,” Njeri said.
Police were told that Ruth was enjoying a movie with one of her housemates at Moi University in Eldoret on the evening of April 13th, 2007 when she received a phone call from a friend. She informed her roommate that she was going out.
“She received a call from a strange number and after a brief conversation with the caller, Karugi said she was going out,” a police statement recorded by one of the roommates reads.
The caller has never been identified to date after the said friend “denied meeting her”, according to Kailua and police. Ruth, who was a third-year medical student at the time, went for a night out never to be seen again.
“I had a feeling they were not telling the truth. While the friend admitted calling my daughter, he said they never met,” said her father Kailua.
The family from Kiambururu village, Kiambu County questioned the police’s commitment to finding their daughter and what might have happened to her.
“Instead of interrogating witnesses and the first suspect, they started diverting me to other areas. One police officer asked me to check for her at a nearby river,” said Kailua.
Njeri said: “We miss you so much Karugi, please come back home.” She added: “She would have been a doctor by now. We mention her by name every time we pray.”
The family is appealing to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to take up the matter.
