Juja dam tragedy: 'Mystery' woman revealed as Fridah Warau Kamuyu

Fridah Warau Kamuyu who drowned alongside businessman Tirus Maina Gikonyo at a Juja Dam in Kiambu.

Photo credit: Pool I Nation Media Group

The woman who died alongside businessman Tirus Maina Gikonyo in Titanic Dam, Juja, in Kiambu County, is 22-year-old Fridah Warau Kamuyu.

Fridah, who recently graduated from college, was in the vehicle with Maina, 39, who was identified two days later.

Fridah’s family identified her body at the City Mortuary, Nairobi, where it had lain for nine days.

“Rest easy,” Ms Mary Wamuyu, her sister, posted on her social media accounts.

Fridah Warau Kamuyu who drowned alongside businessman Tirus Maina Gikonyo at a Juja Dam in Kiambu.

On Wednesday, Ms Margaret Kiiru, the widow of the Kiambu businessman whose vehicle slid into the dam, had appealed to the public to help trace the family of the unknown woman.

Ms Kiiru told the Nation that no one had shown up at the mortuary to claim the body, even as the burial of her husband has been set for this Friday at his ancestral home in Mukurwe-ini Nyeri County.

"We have not been able to identify the family of the young lady who drowned together with my husband in Juja on Tuesday because when she was retrieved from the dam, she had no identification documents. I have no problem getting to know who her family is or who can help us get to know them so that they can also have closure,’’ Ms Kiiru said.

Margaret Kiiru and her husband Tirus Maina. Tirus drowned when his car rolled into a dam on January 18, 2023. 


A source at the mortuary confirmed to the Nation on Tuesday evening that the body is still unclaimed.

Maina had taken his lover to the dam in Juja last week to have a good time, 19 kilometres from his matrimonial home in Thika town, where his family lives.

Maina was easily identified after his vehicle registration was shared online. He had parked his vehicle on the edge of the dam and police sources and the Kiambu fire and emergency team that retrieved the bodies and the vehicle told Nation they had two theories on the incident: The first is that Maina drove into the dam by mistake, and the other theory police are pursuing is that of a probable suicide.


Juja OCPD Phylis Muthoni, under whose jurisdiction the incident happened, told the Nation last week that preliminary investigations have revealed that Maina may have driven into the water, but maintained that police were still on the case to understand what really happened.

''We managed to retrieve the vehicle from the dam and found it on drive mode, meaning the deceased (Mr Maina) may have driven the vehicle into the dam by mistake. We are not ruling out any other factors into the incident and that is why because we are investigating the incident, I do not want to discuss it further until full investigation is complete,’’ Ms Muthoni told Nation.

Maina will be laid to rest today at his family home in Nyeri County.