Lang'ata cemetery body puzzle: Another suspect arrested as more evidence recovered

Detectives have arrested one more suspect in connection to the recovery of a badly mutilated body that was found dumped at the Lang’ata cemetery last week.

The suspect, Jared Mong'are, was nabbed in Eldoret town after investigations linked him to the murder of the victim since identified as Deka Abdinoor Gorone.

According to a statement by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Thursday, Mong'are is said to be behind certain transactions made by the client at Lavington Valley Heights Apartment and was also the driver who took them to Ngara where the car used was found abandoned.

“Mong'are is the person who, not only handled all payment transactions relating to the clients' stay at Lavington Valley Heights Apartment, but is also the person who drove them to the venue in a Toyota Vitz Reg. No. KDD 737Q that has since been recovered at Ngara Civil Servants estate and towed to DCI Hqs for forensic examination” stated DCI.

The DCI also recovered several exhibits among them a blood-stained panga believed to be the murder weapon.

A further probe established that the room where the prime suspect, Hashim Dagane Muhumed, checked in with the female victim was being operated as an Airbnb by a Kilimani-based businesswoman, who subleased the room from the apartment owner, Alice Mbiya, paying a monthly rent of Ksh.55,000.

The apartment owner then issued a notice of rent increment starting November 2024, forcing the lady to send movers to move out her stuff on November 1, 2024.

This was a day after CCTV cameras captured the prime suspect (Muhumed) leaving the room on October 31, 2024.

DCI summoned Mbinya who indicated that the stuff she had moved from the Valley Heights Apartment were still intact as packaged by the movers and that some had been dropped at her residential house in Kilimani and the rest at her other business in Gatundu.

Detectives extended their search to the two homes where the blood-stained panga and other exhibits similar to those found at Lang’ata cemetery were recovered as officers also discovered efforts to clean traces of blood.

“She then led the detectives to her home where the said stuff was unpacked, therein discovering a handbag which she indicated was not part of her belongings. The same is believed to belong to the murdered victim,” stated the DCI.

“The search was furthered to Gatundu where the second batch of the stuff from the primary scene had been stored. Therein, a blood-stained panga and another set of exhibits similar to those recovered at Lang’ata cemetery were recovered. And just like at the house where the murder was committed, notable were the efforts made by the suspect to clean any traces of blood, but not perfectly enough by someone in a hurry.”

DCI officers also established that the prime suspect was handling the victim's mobile phone or SIM card, which he used to call her family members several times, a discovery which led them back to Lang'ata cemetery.

The officers combed the area and discovered a phone stashed in a bag that also contained clothes resembling those seen won by Gorone before she was reported missing at the California Police Station on October 24, 2024.

Following the recovery of her remains, investigators have traced her last known movements through CCTV footage, showing her shopping at a Quickmart supermarket in Nairobi on October 29, 2024.

Afterwards, she was seen entering a flat in Lavington with Muhumed.

According to surveillance footage, Muhumed left the Lavington apartment on October 31, carrying two bags that investigators suspect contained Gorone's remains.

Her mutilated body was later found abandoned at Lang’ata cemetery.

Further complicating the investigation, the owner of the Lavington apartment has allegedly attempted to conceal evidence, reportedly cleaning and repainting the premises before going into hiding.

Authorities are actively pursuing him for questioning as he is also linked to the Eastleigh murders of three women.

The 24-year-old Ethiopian national of Somali descent is suspected to be a serial killer.