Suspect Leads Detectives to Recovery of More Remains in Joy Kanini Murder Probe
Police then searched Muriithi’s one-bedroom hostel room and found black polythene bags, a blood-stained mattress and blood-stained clothing.
Photo: Courtesy.
By Frederick Oseko
The investigation into the brutal murder of 25-year-old Joy Kanini Gathu has taken a grim turn after homicide detectives recovered more of her dismembered remains from the same residential compound where her boyfriend lived.
The case, which has shocked Nyeri County, began as a missing person report before unravelling into one of the most disturbing murder investigations in the region this year.
Joy, a shoe vendor and daughter of Reverend Peter Gathu Kanyua of Gospel Celebration Church, was last seen on Monday, June 8, when neighbours saw her washing clothes outside her boyfriend’s house in Ngangarithi Estate.
According to Nation Africa, the alarm was raised on Thursday, June 11, when her boyfriend, John Muriithi, popularly known as Tizo, telephoned her family to report that he had not seen her for days. He claimed he had already reported her missing and asked her father to accompany him to Nyeri Central Police Station.
What began as a routine report soon unravelled at the station. While the two men waited, police were discussing an unidentified body recovered that morning. Muriithi reportedly reassured the father that he had seen the body and confirmed it was not Joy.
Unknown to the family at the time, detectives had recovered a human torso stuffed inside a sack and dumped near the perimeter fence of a hostel compound in Ngangarithi Estate, the same compound where Muriithi lived.
The recovery was confirmed as Joy’s after her father identified a birthmark on the chest, with DNA tests later confirming her identity. The body was described as having no head, arms or legs at the time of discovery.
Acting on leads, detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) intensified the search of the compound, employing a technique similar to other homicide investigations in Nyeri where suspects have led investigators to body recovery sites.
In Joy’s case, further searches uncovered more body parts wrapped in black polythene bags, discarded a short distance from where the torso was found.
Police then searched Muriithi’s one-bedroom hostel room and found black polythene bags, a blood-stained mattress and blood-stained clothing.
Following complaints from residents about a foul smell coming from a pit latrine located approximately 20 metres from the building, detectives opened the facility and recovered Joy’s feet and arms, also wrapped in black polythene bags.
A post-mortem examination conducted at Nyeri County Referral Hospital indicated that Joy died from excessive bleeding, with the government pathologist establishing that a saw was used to dismember the body. Preliminary findings suggested she may have been unconscious when the dismemberment occurred.
Police also flagged suspicious details from the day at the station, including that Muriithi was carrying Joy’s mobile phone without a SIM card and claimed she had removed it herself, and that he left the station to retrieve her driving licence but never returned.
By Wednesday evening, police and residents were still combing the compound for Joy’s missing head, which remains unrecovered.
Nyeri Town Sub-County Police Commander Selina Kilugha said investigations remain active as officers pursue the suspect, who is believed to have been in a long-term on-and-off relationship with the deceased.
The murder has sparked outrage in Nyeri and renewed calls for swift justice for victims of femicide. Family and friends have described Joy as a humble, hardworking young woman whose life was cut short in a horrific act of violence.
Detectives say forensic analysis of the recovered remains, including the polythene bags, mattress and clothing, will be crucial in strengthening the prosecution’s case once the suspect is apprehended.
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