Body parts found in River Sagana are of missing Lucy Wamaitha, DNA shows

A key suspect was arrested after tests confirmed the body parts recovered from River Sagana, Kirinyaga County belong to 32-year-old woman Lucy Wamaitha who went missing in January this year.

She went missing while on a work assignment with a workmate.

Police said the confirmation followed DNA tests that matched the remains to Wamaitha’s mother, Nancy Wambui.

Wamaitha, who worked for a Kiambu-based NGO, had travelled to Meru County with her boss and workmate on January 16 never to be seen again.

The body parts were found on January 22 in a bag.

She was last seen having lunch with a man in  Embu town before her phone was switched off later that afternoon.

Her remains were found mutilated and partially burned when it was retrieved from River Sagana, deepening suspicions of foul play.

Her head was missing when the body was found.

The motive for the incident was not immediately established.

Authorities are treating a man arrested as a prime suspect in the murder probe with the case now under investigation by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) homicide unit.

Police said he is expected in Thika court on Monday, March 24 to face murder charges.  The family is seeking justice in the matter.

Thika police boss Lawrence Muchangi said they have a prime suspect in the probe.

He said the suspect would be arraigned Monday.

Muchangi said they are talking to the suspect with hopes he will lead them to the place where he may have dumped other missing body parts.

He said they also wanted to know if the suspect acted alone.

“We do not know if he acted alone and that is what we are working on to establish. We also want to recover other missing body parts,” he said.