Police probing murder-suicide after couple found dead in Embu

The deceased have been identified as Christine Mbene, 31, and her husband Lucas Muthusi, 32.

Speaking in Ngurubani, Mwea, Kirinyaga County, after viewing the bodies, the mother of the deceased woman, Esther Kanini Musyoka, said her daughter stopped responding to calls after Muthusi told her he wanted to discuss something with her and her husband.

"I was shocked to see the lifeless bodies of my daughter and her husband in a police vehicle," Ms. Musyoka said.

She suspects Muthusi killed her daughter and then took poison shortly after that phone call.

Kamweli resident Triza Njeri told the media that Muthusi is suspected to have used an axe on his wife before ending his own life.

"She was my friend. On Wednesday she left her daughter with me as she wanted to take her Grade Three child to a salon in Makutano, but found it closed. She was a beautiful, friendly lady, and her husband was my former schoolmate," Ms. Njeri said.

Ms. Musyoka said the couple had been married for five years and that her daughter had previously reported domestic issues at Makutano Police Post.