Shock as couple’s bodies found in Embu miraa farm

The bodies of Eric and his wife, Esther, were discovered at Njikace Village, about three kilometres from the Kirinyaga-Embu border, where they had been employed to take care of a miraa farm.

According to the farm owner, Godfrey Mwaniki Mbiti, the couple had been hired from Kirinyaga to look after the farm.

Mbiti said he was alerted to the deaths on Wednesday afternoon when another worker, who had been hired to spray the miraa, called to report that he had discovered the bodies.

“The woman had strangle marks and the man was found hanging from a mango tree,” Mbiti said.

The bodies were found in different locations.

News of the deaths quickly spread to Kiumbu, prompting residents to travel to the farm to confirm what had happened and speculation started.

“Why would they fight to that extent, yet they were so close? Though they had no children, they were friends,” said Anthony Muriithi, a resident of Kiumbu.

Village elder Stephen Mugo of Rugakuri said the couple may have started fighting inside their house before the confrontation moved outside.

Kiarukungu Location Chief Henry Kariuki confirmed that the couple were residents of his location but said investigations would be handled by police in Mbeere South because the bodies were found on the Embu side of the border.

“It is about three kilometres from the Kirinyaga side, but the matter will be handled by police in Mbeere,” Kariuki said.

Muriithi said the couple were in their 30s and expressed disbelief at their sudden deaths.

The bodies were moved to the Embu Level Five Hospital mortuary by detectives as investigations continued.

The incident came on the same day a 60-year-old woman, Lydia Wathitha Njoka, was found murdered and her body dumped in an abandoned well at Kamugunda Village in Gichugu, Kirinyaga County.

Her body, which had been wrapped in a blanket, was retrieved after her husband, James Njoka Gitari, arrived home at around 9pm on Tuesday and found blood stains inside the house.

He alerted neighbours, who helped raise the alarm.

Police are hunting for a male worker from Western Kenya who is suspected of killing the woman.