Kin of serial killer’s victim seek help with burial expenses

In Sigito village, Solai, Rongai sub-county, the family of Purity Chebet is busy preparing for her burial and that of her 18-month-old son.

Relatives, friends and church members meet every day under a tent in her eldest brother’s compound to plan the ceremony.

Ms Chebet and her son were killed and buried by her husband, self-confessed serial killer Moses Kipchirchir, who has been revealing to the police where he buried his victims.

A church service was underway when we arrived at the home. Speakers consoled the family, urging them to stay strong.

Ms Chebet’s mother, Ms Ziporrah Chepkorir Teriki, followed the proceedings calmly even with the pain of losing her daughter and grandson.

Ms Chepkorir, in an interview with the Nation after the service, said she was still trying to come to terms with the deaths.

“This man had previously attacked her with a machete and injured her badly. He was arrested and jailed. He was later released,” she said.

She said that her daughter, whose marriage to a different man ended in 2016, was a hardworking woman who depended on casual jobs to support her family.

“When she left her first husband in 2016, I took her in but she moved out the following year, saying she was going to Mogotio to find a job,” she said.

Left her leg paralysed

It was in Mogotio that her daughter met Mr Kipchirchir, who would later become her husband.
Ms Chepkorir revealed that though she knew about the union, she had never met Mr Kipchirchir.

She said her daughter would explain that he was busy with work.

Ms Chepkorir said that after the attack on Ms Chebet that left her leg paralysed, she stayed with her parents until she healed and returned to Mogotio.

“We later learned that she had gone back to live with Moses but we only saw her once after that. We did not even know that she had been missing, until we heard that she had died,” she says.

The last time she saw her daughter alive was when she visited the family in May 2020 and stayed for one month.

She heard about the deaths of her daughter and grandson from her son Victor Ruto. Mr Ruto had been notified by the Mogotio Directorate of Criminal Investigations boss that the suspect had confessed to killing and burying them.

“She was a good girl despite disappointing me by becoming pregnant at an early age and returning to that man. We leave everything to God,” said Ms Chepkorir.

Did not have enough money

A postmortem and DNA tests are slated for Thursday while burial is scheduled for this week. But Ms Chebet’s family said they did not have enough money for the procedures, which are required by the state before the two are buried.

Ms Chepkorir said they had raised a paltry Sh10,000 of the over Sh100,000 that they need.

“I thank God that her remains were found and now we can give her a befitting send-off but we don’t have enough money. I’m a single mother with no job and I plead with the government and well-wishers to help me,” the distraught mother said.

Ms Chebet attended Setkabor Primary School in Solai from Standard One to Four.

She transferred to Kapsianan Primary in Mogotio after her aunt offered to help her when things became difficult for her mother.

But she became pregnant in Standard Six in 2013 and dropped out of school. She gave birth to her first child and married her first husband. The two broke up and she moved in with Mr Kipchirchir.

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