A first-year Electrical Engineering student at Multimedia University (MMU), suspected of murdering fellow student Sylvia Kemunto, has surrendered to police after days on the run. The suspect turned himself in at the Sultan Hamud Police Station in Makueni on Thursday night, according to Nairobi Police Commander George Sedah.
Kemunto, a first-year student pursuing Mass Communication and Computer Science, was reported missing on Sunday, March 30, by her mother, Triza Kwamboka. After failed attempts to reach her daughter, Kwamboka traveled from Kawangware to the university and confirmed her daughter was missing, prompting a report at Lang’ata Police Station.
Police say the suspect allegedly killed Kemunto in her hostel room before dragging her body to the rooftop of a nearby hostel block, where it was dumped inside a water tank. The tank was then tied shut with wire and weighted with a stone in an apparent attempt to conceal the crime. Her decomposing body was discovered on Wednesday following a search initiated by the school management after detecting a foul smell from the rooftop of Block E.
Investigations revealed that the suspect was seen entering Kemunto’s room around lunchtime on the day she disappeared. Witnesses also reported seeing him later dragging a suitcase—believed to have contained the victim’s body—to his room in a different hostel block. His roommate reported noticing the suitcase that evening but found both the suspect and the suitcase missing the next morning.
Commander Sedah confirmed a Nairobi-based team had been dispatched to Sultan Hamud to retrieve the suspect for questioning. “It is unfortunate that a bright girl was killed. We believe he is the prime suspect in the murder,” Sedah said.
Kemunto had reportedly complained to her mother about unwanted advances from a fellow student, which she rejected. Authorities are now trying to determine whether the suspect acted alone and what his motivations were.
MMU Acting Vice Chancellor Prof. Geoffrey Kihara stated that investigations were ongoing, expressing deep concern over the tragic loss. The incident has added to growing national concerns over the safety of young women and rising cases of femicide in Kenya.
