Police recover a butcher knife at home of Nigerian men linked to Rita Waeni's murder

The two suspects, William Ovie Opia and JohnBull Asibor, were arraigned before the Chief Magistrate, Makadara Law Courts, on Monday, a week after the murder at a rented room in Roysambu. 

According to a Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officer stationed at Kasarani police station, the two were arrested in a rented flat in Ndenderu, Kiambu county. 

Detectives recovered several critical items during their arrests, including a hatchet and butcher knife, as well as six mobile phones and three laptop computers. 

Also recovered were an assortment of SIM cards from Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom, as well as a Kenyan identity card belonging to Omar Mwamkwaju Juma. 

Investigations have further revealed that the two suspects have been in Kenya illegally. 

One of the suspects, Opia, was carrying an expired passport, according to the detectives, while his partner, Asibor, casually claimed to have lost his last year. 

According to the investigators, Opia stated that he purchased the hatchet from an online vendor for his "own protection." 

Meanwhile, detectives on Sunday recovered a human head, believed to be that of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) student Rita Waeni. 

The head was recovered from a dam in Kiambaa, in Kiambu county. 

A mutilated body of 20-year-old Waeni was found in an apartment in the Roysambu area in Nairobi on January 14, with her head missing. Police could not immediately confirm the identity of the victim.

The family would then come out to reveal that the victim was Waeni, who had left her aunt’s house in Syokimau to meet a friend.

In a statement on January 17, the family said that at around 5 am on Sunday, her father received a message, delivered from her phone number, demanding a Ksh. 500,000 ransom within 24 hours for the release of the JKUAT student.

The body parts of the student, who was due to join her fourth year of university, were discovered inside a trash bag in the apartment by the caretaker.