Three Arrested over the Murder of 19-Year-Old College Student Purity Wangechi

Detectives in Kiambu County have arrested the suspect behind the brutal murder of Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (KIMC) student Purity Wangechi Kiringa.

John Wanyoike Kibungi, 24, was smoked out of his hideout in Kirigiti, Kiambu in the wee hours of Sunday morning as he prepared to escape, according to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI). 

He was arrested alongside two of his accomplices Kanaiya Kamau and Brendan Muchiri, who are accused of assisting him in killing and disposing of the body of the 19-year-old college student.

Wangechi’s lifeless body was found dumped by the roadside near Mburiria estate in Kiambu early Saturday morning, with visible stab wounds and strangulation marks. DCI sleuths established that the teenager was killed elsewhere and her body dumped at the scene, where her identification documents, blood-stained bedding, clothes and other items were found.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the deceased left college on Friday to visit her boyfriend Wanyoike, who lives in Kirigiti. It is alleged that the two recently had a misunderstanding after Wangechi discovered that her boyfriend was a criminal and confronted him with the facts.

“Wangechi had fallen in love with the killer and they had been in a relationship for some time before she discovered that he was a thug. She confronted him about it leading to a misunderstanding between the two. She however didn’t know that her lover was determined to cover his tracks by eliminating her,” DCI says in a report.

During Wanyoike’s arrest, officers recovered a vegetable knife that was carefully concealed in his waistband and which was used in stabbing the deceased.

Wanyoike and his accomplices have been placed in custody for the offense of murder contrary to Section 203 as read with Section 204 of the Penal Code.