Baringo husband and father Isaac Chesaro, firstborn Gilbert Yator and last born Kennedy Yator all died in mysterious circumstances.
Rose Chesaro sat under an avocado tree in her compound, clutching photos of her deceased husband and two sons.
The pictures and the three graves in the homestead are a painful reminder of the sudden demise of her three family members, whose deaths remain a puzzle.
The mother of five is yet to come to terms with losing her kin in six years. Her husband, Isaac Chesaro and her first-born and last-born sons, Gilbert Yator and Kennedy Yator, respectively, died in separate years under mysterious circumstances.
Rose Chesaro and her son Mark Yator holding some portraits of her deceased husband and her two sons at their Talai home in Baringo Central during an interview at her home on June 5, 2024. She is seeking justice for her husband and two sons who died mysteriously between 2017 and 2024.
Her husband was murdered in 2017, her first-born son was also murdered in 2019, and his younger brother was killed in a hit-and-run accident in Nairobi a month ago.
At the graveside where the remains of Kennedy were interred a month ago, flowers have started to wither, while the graves where his father and his elder brother were laid are now overgrown with vegetation.
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For Rose and her three remaining children, their lives have taken a drastic turn following the series of deaths. They have several unanswered questions and are still in utter shock as they lost three people in puzzling circumstances.
Their tribulations started in April 2017 when her husband’s body was found in the evening lying on a footpath a few meters from his house.
She was running a business in Marigat, Baringo South when she received a call from her eldest son.
“Gilbert informed me that his father had been found lying on a footpath to our house, unresponsive. He had informed the area chief and neighbours and it was established that he was already dead,” recalled Chesaro.
Locals suspect that the deceased was murdered elsewhere and his body dumped on the footpath to his house as a cover-up.
Due to financial constraints, Rose says the family did not follow up on the matter and opted for closure and buried him.
“A post-mortem to ascertain his cause of death was not conducted either. He was buried a week later. To date, we do not know what led to his death,” she told Nation.Africa.
But it would turn out that it was not over for the family.
In April 2019, her first son left the village for Ronda, in Nakuru town, to look for a job.
He was initially working at the United Republic Party (URP) office in Nairobi before returning to the village to engage in development projects.
He had secured a job at a hotel in Ronda, where he worked for eight months before his mysterious demise.
“He left the URP office when the party was merged and came back to the village. He was very hard-working and had great ambitions to improve our family. He started by building his house, farming, and even went ahead to do a traditional marriage,” she said.
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Gilbert had stayed at home without any job for some years and resorted to looking for menial jobs in Nakuru town to provide for his three young children in the village.
“He was the breadwinner after my husband passed away and he used to provide for his children while working in Nakuru town. He stayed there until November when he called me that he would come home on December 4, 2019, to spend the Christmas festivities with his family and also finalise the construction of his house that had initially stalled. He even promised to buy us a goat to eat at that time,” said the distraught woman.
On December 3, the family received reports that he had not arrived at his aunt’s house, where he was staying while working at the hotel. We asked his friends, relatives, and even neighbours in Nakuru town about his whereabouts to no avail,” she noted.
A few days later, their frantic search ended at the Nakuru Provincial General Hospital morgue, where his body was after being collected by police at Kaptembwo police station on December 4 at 10 am while floating in River Ndarugu, where he used to cross to reach his aunt’s house.
Rose Chesaro, his son Mark Yator and Eliud Chesire, an elder at the graves of her husband Isaac Chesaro, sons Gilbert Yator and Kennedy Yator who died mysteriously between 2017 and 2024.
A post-mortem report conducted at the facility indicated that the 29-year-old died after being hit by a blunt object on the head and his back. He was thrown into the River as a cover-up that he died by drowning.
He had also been robbed of his belongings, including money, phone, and identification documents.
“We were told by the morgue attendants that the body was found floating in River Ndarugu and were told to report the case at Kaptembwo police station. We were so devastated because the incident happened just two years after we buried his father and we saw no need to follow up on the matter. We just resorted to putting a closure on the matter by burying his remains instead,” said Ms Chesaro.
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Ms Chesaro said she was still reeling from the shock of losing her husband, only to be hit by another tragedy of losing her first-born son under the same mysterious circumstances.
“The young man had even taken over the responsibility of assisting me to educate his younger siblings after his father passed on. Death had robbed me of a hard-working person. The world had just conspired against me,” she said.
After the passing on of their brother, her two sons, who had completed their secondary school education left for Nairobi to look for menial jobs.
Little did the family anticipate yet another death of one of them.
On April 15 this year, death struck the home once more when her last-born son, Kennedy, 22, died after being involved in a hit-and-run road accident on Mombasa road, at the Flyover adjacent to the Ole Sereni Hotel.
According to the distraught woman, police at Industrial Area Police Station said the deceased was hit by a vehicle on the Flyover at Ole Sereni Hotel, along Mombasa road, and he fell on the road before being run over by three other vehicles. We are told that his body was collected close to three kilometres away after being dragged by the third vehicle,” said Chesaro.
“It was so hard for me after receiving news of his death, and the circumstances under which he died. He could not be reached by phone for several days only for his mutilated body to be found at the City Mortuary,” she said.
The deceased worked a night shift and was heading to his house in South B at 5 am when he met his untimely death.
“It was so burdening for us to ferry his body from Nairobi to the village, but through the locals, friends, and relatives, we managed to bury him. However, we are still wondering why the police have not arrested anyone in connection to his death. They claim it has been difficult to trace who knocked him. I thought there were CCTV cameras along that road,” wondered the mother of five.
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Her last born had secured a passport and was planning to seek greener pastures abroad.
“He had so many plans in store and he was even planning to renovate my house after securing a job abroad. He had successfully applied for a passport while working in Nairobi. He was also assisting me to pay the fees of the three children left behind by his elder brother,” she said.
“I am just appealing for whoever ran over my son along that road on that particular morning to just come out and seek forgiveness. Just report at the Industrial Area Police Station and they will get in touch with me. My aim is not to sue them but I just want closure and peace in my heart because his demise has hit me so hard. He died a very painful death which disturbs me to date,” she said.
The graves of Isaac Chesaro and his two sons Gilbert Yator and Kennedy Yator from Talai village in Baringo Central who died mysteriously between 2017 and 2024.
Her son, Caliph Yator, is almost sinking into depression following the devastating deaths in the family.
“When I see the three graves in our home and remember how my younger sibling, Kennedy’s mutilated body lay cold at the city mortuary, I feel so frustrated. Sadly, police are yet to unravel whoever hit him. We just need justice because losing a father and two brothers in such a short period, under mysterious circumstances is so devastating,” he said.
An area elder, Eliud Chesire, has also appealed to the State to help the family unravel the cause of the three deaths that have shocked locals in the region.
“We need to know the truth about what killed them. This family has a lot of burden because all the three who died were the breadwinners. The first-born son, who died in 2019, left behind three children who are now under the care of their grandmother. It is so devastating, to say the least,” said Mr Chesire.
For the mother, unravelling the causes of the deaths will give her closure, she says.
“I have lost three people who all died under mysterious circumstances and they have not gotten justice. I just appeal to be assisted to know what caused their deaths because I have a lot of unanswered questions,” she appealed.
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