Tragic double death mystery: A mother and son’s eternal bond

Police are investigating the mysterious deaths of a woman and her 11-year-old son in Kabete, Kiambu County.

The victims, Ruth Karuga and Francis Kinyanjui, are said to have been inseparable.

Ruth’s neighbours, who spoke to the Nation, said she was very close to her son and the two spent most of their time together. 

Pictures of the two shared with the Nation during their happy times, showed a doting mother proud of her son.

When Francis graduated from kindergarten, Ruth seemed very proud of the milestone and posted pictures on her Facebook page with the caption: “Happy graduation my son. Mum loves you so much.”

Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) suspect the two died in a murder-suicide incident. 

“Post-mortem is yet to be conducted, but preliminary investigation suggest murder-suicide by poisoning,” an officer privy to the ongoing investigation told the Nation. 

The two deaths were discovered after Ruth’s mother became concerned over her daughter’s long and unusual silence. She was neither picking up calls nor responding to text messages.

Ruth’s mother, Grace Nyambura, went to her daughter’s house and found it was locked from the inside.

“I peeped through the window and saw Ruth lying on the floor,” Ms Nyambura said.

She alerted police at the Kibiku Police Post who broke into the house and found the two bodies.

Police said both bodies had no physical injuries and there were no signs of a struggle in the house.

Ms Nyambura told the Nation that her daughter had previously had episodes of severe depression. She further said that in the recent past, there were no signs that Ruth was depressed because she was jovial when they last spoke on January 23 and that she did not say that she was facing any challenges.

“My daughter was doing well. I am also shocked with what has happened. We all believed that she had overcome it all,”  Ms Nyambura said.