Corporal Caroline Kangogo dead after allegedly shooting herself

Caroline Kangogo

Fugitive police officer Caroline Kangogo.

Photo credit: File | Courtesy

Corporal Caroline Kangogo, the police fugitive who was being sought over the murder of her colleague Constable John Ogweno and businessman Peter Njiru Ndwiga, is dead.

Peter Ndwiga

Peter Ndwiga, who was suspected to have been killed by policewoman Caroline Kangogo inside a hotel room in Juja.

Photo credit: Pool
Police Constable John Ogweno

Police Constable John Ogweno who was killed in a suspected love triangle on July 5, 2021.

Photo credit: Courtesy

Rift Valley regional coordinator George Natembeya said Kangogo allegedly shot herself in her parents' home in Elgeyo Marakwet County on Friday morning.

"Caroline Kangogo has taken her own life. She had gone home and that is where she shot herself," Mr Natembeya said.

Corporal Caroline Kangogo relatives dead

Mourners outside the bathroom where Corporal Caroline Kangogo was found dead.

Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation Media Group

The death of Kangogo ends a two-week search for the police officer, who had evaded an elite unit formed by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to hunt her down.

Her run from the authorities started on July 5 when Sergeant Joseph Ologe, who resides at the Kasarani police houses in Nakuru, spotted PC Ogweno’s Toyota Corolla with broken windows and the car’s engine still running.
 

Caroline Kangogo

A police vehicle carrying the body of Caroline Kangogo in  Nyawa village, Elgeyo Marakwet on July 16, 2021

Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation Media Group

When the officer peeped through the broken driver’s window, he saw Ogweno lying in the car seat with blood oozing from his nose. Officers who responded to the report discovered that their colleague had been shot and was dead.

Investigations into the killing of Ogweno was immediately placed under Nakuru East sub-county criminal investigation officers.

Investigators found a mobile phone belonging to Kangogo at the crime scene. Ogweno and Kangogo were suspected to be having an affair. 

On July 6, the DCI declared Kangogo a person of interest and began searching for her.

Corporal Caroline Kangogo home parents dead

Onlookers gather near the homestead of Corporal Caroline Kangogo's family. 

Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation Media Group

About the same time, the owner of Dedamax Kimbo hotel, Peter Kiumi Mugeshi, reported by phone to the OCPP of Mugera Police Post that a man had been found dead in a hotel room.

It was established that the man’s identity was Peter Njiru Ndwiga, 32, and he had booked the room at 4.22pm on Monday in the company of a woman. In his pockets was a receipt for a Sh3,020 payment made to Jogoo Kimakia Country Lodge in Thika using a bank card belonging to Kangogo.

The receipt indicated that the payment was made at 3.29pm on July 5. 

The DCI declared Kangogo “armed and lethal” and cautioned people, particularly men, to be wary of her as she was “on a killing spree and was luring men to hotels before murdering them”.
 

Corporal Caroline Kangogo home parents dead

Mourners gather at the home of Corporal Caroline Kangogo's parents.

Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation Media Group

Life

Kangogo was born in Nyawa, Tambach, in the former Keiyo district to Barnaba Kipkoech Korir and Leah Jepkosgei.

She attended Nyawa Boarding Primary School and joined St Francis Secondary School and later St Alphonsus Mutei Girls Secondary School, before joining the Kenya Police College in Kiganjo between 2008 and 2009 for her initial training.

While at Kiganjo, she obtained a First Class in Shooting Range Qualification. She went for a Corporal Course at the Kenya Police College in Kiganjo in 2014. Kangogo was married to Commissioner of Police Richard Kipkirui Ngeno, with whom she had two children.

She had served at the Police Training College in Mombasa, the Kaloleni Police Station, Kenya Police College and Central Police Station in Nakuru. She was attached to the Nakuru Law Courts as a court orderly.

Her death comes just days after the Law Society of Kenya appointed veteran lawyer John Khaminwa to handle her case.

Dr Khaminwa had filed a case to bargain for her release on bond pending her arrest.