Detectives Detain a Man who, Six Weeks After Returning to Work, Killed his Employer with a Machete.

Twenty months after he killed his boss in Murang'a County, Kenya, a man has been taken into custody by detectives.

The suspect, Fred Cheluba Murunga, was detained at the location of a security company in a different town where he was looking for work, according to a statement released by the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) on Tuesday, June 11, 2024.

The statement said that Fred had only been the deceased's employee for six weeks when he fatally macheted him. 

“The proverbial fortieth day of a murder suspect believed to have slain his 63-year-old employer in Murang'a on 22nd September 2022 has finally dawned after over 20 months of holing up, a period that subjected the affected family to untold grief crying for justice for their kin,” the statement read.

 

Prior to going berserk and hacking his boss to death, Fred Cheluba Murunga (the suspect) worked as the deceased's farmhand for one and a half months, staying at his home located at Kerandi village in Kigumo, Murang'a County.

 

The report booked at Ngonda Police Station indicated that on the fateful morning, the suspect sent a 12-year-old grandchild of the late Mzee Paul Njuguna Kamau to a nearby shop, and while he was away, turned against his employer with a machete.

 

The juvenile would only return moments later to find his grandfather locked up in the kitchen, crying in agonizing pain. Apparently, the rest of the family members were away, and the young boy had gone to visit the aged man to get him some breakfast.

 

The minor raised alarm, drawing the attention of the villagers who thronged the homestead. Jointly with the local police who had also learnt of the incident, the responders broke into the kitchen only to stumble upon Mzee's body soaked in blood, stiff and lifeless. Beside him lay the suspected murder weapon, a machete.

 

Enraged neighbours who bayed for Cheluba's blood searched for him unsuccessfully. Not only was he missing, but so were the deceased's motorcycle and mobile phone.

 

Taking up the case, Kigumo DCI officers activated a manhunt for the killer farmhand, with preliminary investigations revealing that the deceased's motorbike and mobile phone were sold out in Eldoret.

 

With each passing day, the affected family's hope tailed off, but the detectives maintained their focus and put the suspect on police radar, further seeking the intervention of their counterparts from DCI HQS Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB).

 

Acting on crucial intelligence leads, CRIB detectives yesterday cornered the murder suspect at the premises of a security firm based in Ruiru, where he was seeking employment.”