Vivian Kajaya, the 22-year-old student at Mt Kenya University whose body was found dumped in a maize plantation in Kiamunyi, Nakuru County on October 15, 2024.
The Mt Kenya University student who was killed and her body dumped at Kiamunyi in Nakuru had travelled to meet a man she had known for less than two weeks, Nation.Africa can reveal.
Vivian Kajaya, a third-year Bachelor of Social Work and Administration student, was reported missing on October 14 by friends.
One of her close campus friends, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, revealed to Nation.Africa how Kajaya had embarked on a 166-kilometre journey from Thika town to meet a mystery man she had started dating.
She recalled how Kajaya had mentioned to her about traveling to Nakuru on October 12 to meet the man but kept his identity secret.
"I tried to convince her not to go since they barely knew each other, but she was determined," the friend said.
“I was worried since she did not have any relatives in Nakuru, leave alone knowing the place, but she told me she has to go.”
The fellow student suggested postponing the trip to the deceased and even proposed an outing together but Kajaya allegedly declined, saying she had already made up her mind.
At noon on October 12, Kajaya, dressed in a green dress and carrying her favourite pink bag, left Thika for Nakuru.
At 5pm, she messaged the friend confirming she had arrived safely. Kajaya told her friend she would keep her updated, even offering to share her location.
That was the last they spoke.
The friend told Nation.Africa that she had assumed all was well until later that evening when Kajaya made a distress call to another mutual friend, saying she was stranded at the Nakuru bus station.
She claimed that her contact had unexpectedly cancelled their plans.
Kajaya allegedly asked for money to return to Nairobi but before her friends could help, she called again to say that the man had arrived and picked her up around 5.30pm.
“After that assurance, we thought she was safe and we went to sleep. But around 9pm, she called our other male friend and requested him not to sleep or switch off his mobile phones since she was returning back to Nairobi, explaining that she had an argument with the man,” the friend said.
“We mobilised other guys so that we could all pick her up at the stage in solidarity. We kept waiting for her but she never reached out again. We assumed maybe she had changed mind or the two had reconciled and we slept,” recalled the friend.
But come Sunday, she grew concerned when Kajaya’s phone remained unreachable and her messages went unanswered.
After trying to reach her on Monday in vain, she reported her missing at Makongeni Police Station in Thika.
Shortly afterward, she saw an online report about a woman's body found in Kiamunyi, Nakuru — the same place Kajaya had mentioned.
Disturbed by the details and recognising Kajaya’s bag in the photos, she says she feared the worst which was later confirmed.
“I saw the bag she left with and I definitely knew it was her. It was later confirmed to her,” she said.
A week prior, the friend recounted how Kajaya had argued with the mysterious man after he refused to send her fare.
Eventually, they reconciled and rescheduled the meeting for October 12.
Days before the Nakuru trip, Kajaya had met the man in Thika where they visited a hospital and conducted HIV test.
According to the friend, Kajaya returned with new clothes, groceries and cash.
The friend asked Kajaya about the gifts and she explained that the man, whom the deceased described as wealthy, had gifted her. She also revealed to the friend that her secret date drives a Range Rover.
The following day, the man called her again for a meet-up in Juja, where he gifted her a new phone worth Sh11,500.
“I stayed over that night at her place and the next day I asked her about the phone. She said it was a gift from him but didn’t share any more details. She’d promised to tell me everything after her trip to Nakuru,” the friend said.
According to the friend, Kajaya had a boyfriend, whom she had dated for months and who have been supporting her financially.
At the time of Kajaya's death, the said boyfriend was attending a burial in Meru.
“She was not the kind of a person who did hook-ups. She could introduce me to any person who was pursuing her. I do not know why she did not introduce me to this man,” the friend said.
“We do not club, drink or do drugs, we prefer being indoors. She was so secretive, she never talked about her family, she only said she had a mother.”
The friend who is yet to come to terms with Kajaya's death appealed to detectives to speed up investigations and bring the perpetrator to book.
A post-mortem conducted on October 19 at the Nakuru City Mortuary by Government Pathologist Titus Ngulungu revealed that Kajaya died of strangulation and had been sexually assaulted.
