NIS officer linked to acid attack dies by suspected suicide in Umoja

Elvis Opiyo, the prime suspect in the March 2026 acid attack on Mary Claire Ochieng, is dead.

Opiyo was found dead inside his rented apartment at Amani Court in Umoja Two, Nairobi, just two days after travelling from his rural home to Nairobi after being summoned by his employer, the National Intelligence Service (NIS).

A post-mortem examination has established that he died after ingesting poison, although a police report has classified the death as suspected suicide.

Opiyo was fund lying on his back, with no visible external injuries on his body.

Beside his body, investigators found an empty white plastic cup containing traces of an unidentified substance.

A spoon and a white chemical substance wrapped in clear nylon were also found on a wooden table.

Police suspect the substance could have been poison. No suicide note was recovered from the scene.

The incident was reported at Umoja Two Patrol Base at 4 p.m. by a person who had been alerted by Opiyo’s wife.

According to a family member and a close friend of Opiyo, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Opiyo had received a dismissal letter from his superiors at the NIS in connection with the acid attack after being summoned.

He reportedly called his wife and informed her that he had been dismissed from his job. The letter was later recovered close to his body.

A friend who had been alerted by Opiyo’s wife after his phone went unanswered found his body in the apartment.

The friend reported the incident at Umoja Two Patrol Base under O.B. Number 13/11/08/2026 at 11 p.m.

A post-mortem examination was conducted on Wednesday as the family made arrangements to transfer Opiyo’s body to Nyanza for burial.

Opiyo died less than 24 hours after the arrest and arraignment of another suspect in a separate acid-attack case, in which he was the prime suspect before the Kibera court.

Police say investigations are still ongoing as they await the full toxicology results.

The case is being investigated by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Buruburu.