Missing Othaya man met brutal death, police say
Villagers mill around a cattle dip in Witima village in Nyeri where the body of Samuel Ruoro who was reported missing was found on June 25, 2018. Villagers blocked his burial on July 18, 2018 demanding police arrest the killers. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
According to his relatives, Mr Ritho spent his evening watching a football match in his house but appeared uneasy.
He left the house at around 11pm after he received a text message from an unknown person.
His body was put in a sack and dumped in a cattle dip.
A man who disappeared from his home in Othaya two days ago was brutally murdered and his body dumped in a cattle dip near his home.
Mr Samuel Ruoro Ritho, 54, was last seen on Sunday night at his home in Witima.
According to his relatives, he had spent his evening watching a football match in his house but appeared uneasy.
After having his supper at around 11pm, he is said to have received a text message from an unknown person and left his house.
“From that point nobody knows where he went. When he did not return by morning, we got concerned and started looking for him in the neighbourhood,” his sister, Ms Susan Njoki, told the Nation.
For the next 12 hours they searched everywhere, including the nearby bushes where they found the hat he was wearing.
The spot where the hat was found appeared to have been the scene of a struggle.
“It is as if there was a fight then somebody was dragged from the spot,” the sister said.
The family said they reported the incident at the Witima Police Station as the search for the father of four continued in the area.
BLOOD TRAIL
At around 6pm, a search party spotted a trail of blood drops leading to a cattle dip near the victim’s home.
His body was found stuffed in a sack and dumped in the unused cattle dip.
Crime scene investigators said the body showed he had been hit multiple times on the head.
His killers then tied him up, stuffed his body in a sack and filled it with soil and sand before dumping it in the catte dip.
This was seen as an attempt to keep the body sunken.
PROBE
The motive of the brutal killing remains unknown but detectives suspect that it was done by more than one person given the nature of the injuries and the efforts taken to keep the body hidden.
Police are also trying to trace his phone which could not be found and establish who he communicated with before disappearing.
Nyeri South OCPD Serah Koki told the Nation that the case has been taken up by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
“The case is being handled by the DCIO. We are waiting for statements from the family. We urge anyone with any information or suspicion to bring it forward to help speed up the investigations,” Ms Koki said.
