Murder suspect Kevin Kangethe arrested days after escaping police custody

Citizen Digital has learned that Kangethe, accused of brutally killing his girlfriend at a United States airport before fleeing to Kenya, was arrested on Tuesday in Ngong.

His family members confirmed the arrest, stating that he was taken into custody at the Ngong police station just after 11 p.m. on Tuesday under tight security.

Police had been camping in Ololua area for two days, and had arrested Kang'ethe's brother Brian Kang'ethe on Monday.

Also in police custody is another relative who was arrested on Tuesday morning.

The arrests follow Kangethe's bold escape from the Muthaiga police station, where he had been held after his initial arrest in Nairobi's Westlands area.

According to a police report documenting the incident that left the country's security apparatus on the spot, the daring escape occurred around 5.30pm on February 7, in front of the station commander, who only heard a commotion as her officers attempted to chase after the fleeing Kang'ethe.

According to the report, at around 4 pm a man identified as John Maina Ndegwa arrived at the station and introduced himself to the officers as a personal lawyer to Kang'ethe and that he wished to talk to his client.

The officers are said to have obliged the request and went ahead to remove the suspect from the cells leaving him alone with his 'lawyer' in a different room; anti-crime office number 3.

"After a short while the prisoner escaped by running away and left the lawyer behind,” reads the report in part.

“At the time of the escape the station commander Chief Inspector Esther Muchomba was chairing a meeting/lecture with all the Anti-crime personnel and members of inspectorate while at her office, she was alerted by a loud noise of officers who were chasing the prisoner along Thika Super Highway but they did not manage to re-arrest him,” the report further reads.

How the suspect outmaneuvered armed officers in broad daylight remains unclear.

Four police officers, Elijah Kipkiror (Cell sentry), James Maina (report personnel), Ann Wanjiku (station guard) and Hassan Saman (Station Guard) who were on duty have since been arrested as they undergo interrogation on the incident.

The advocate, John Maina  Ndegwa, is also in police custody.

Kang’ethe is accused of killing a 31-year-old Kenyan-born woman based in Whitman, Massachusetts whose body was discovered inside a vehicle at Boston's Logan Airport in November last year.

Following his arrest in Nairobi, Kang’ethe was presented in court on a miscellaneous application where detectives were granted 30 days to detain him pending a determination on whether he would be extradited to the US where he is wanted for murder charges.