Suspect linked to murder of seven in Embu arson arrested in Kakamega
A suspect linked to an October 2022 arson attack that killed seven members of a family in Embu East has been arrested in Kakamega County.
A suspect linked to the arson attack that killed seven members of a family in Embu East Sub-County last year, has been arrested in Kakamega County.
The family members of seven from Ngimari village died after the inferno engulfed their timber house and efforts by villagers to rescue them failed.
Detectives, who have been trailing the suspect, arrested him in Ebuchangu village, Navakholo Sub-County on Friday night.
Kakamega County Police Commander Joseph Kigen said, “The suspect is currently being held at Navakholo police station and is being processed to be transferred to Embu for questioning.”
“We are treating him as the main suspect behind the arson incident.”
Detectives told Nation.Africa that the suspect had disagreed with his wife leading to them parting ways, and the woman later married another man in the village. The couple had two children together before they separated.
After learning that the woman had remarried, the suspect sent her a text message threatening to set their family home on fire.
However, he is said to have mistakenly set a neighbour’s house on fire, in which a man, his wife, their three children and two grandchildren were killed, sending shock waves across the entire village.
The victims were burnt beyond recognition as they slept in the family’s three-bedroom timber house.
The suspected arsonist is said to have sent a text message to his former wife, expressing shock that she was still alive after the fire incident. He then switched off his mobile phone and went into hiding.
Detectives were later tipped that he was hiding in his rural village in Ebuchangu.
