Family had hoped fugitive policewoman would surrender and clear the air

Mrs Leah Kangogo had always hoped her third born —police officer Caroline Jemutai Kangogo — would surrender and clear the air for the “terrible things” she was accused of.

The police constable, who was on the run, was facing two murder charges of his colleague Constable John Ogweno and businessman Peter Njiru Ndwiga. Her mother just could not fathom the things that her daughter was being accused of doing.

But not only did she not get those answers — of how her jovial girl, who was always ready to lend a helping hand in the family, had turned around and hunted down two men in cold blood — she now has to live with the horror of being the first to see her lifeless body.

Ms Kangogo discovered her daughter’s lifeless body at the family’s bathroom, 40 metres from the main house, as she went about her routine cleaning in the morning.

There, in a pool of blood, her daughter, in a black trouser, a yellow pullover, and covering her head with a black shawl, lay dead in suspected suicide.

Ms Kangogo, a police report said, died by a single bullet shot.

“It is suspected that she might have shot herself using the firearm from below the chin and the bullet exited on the head slightly above the left ear,” a police report said.

A Ceska pistol serial number G4670, which was cocked with a magazine loaded with eight rounds of ammunition, one in the chamber, one used cartridge and one bullet head were recovered from the scene.

The family says they did not hear or see the police fugitive come into the compound, and that she left no note, no signs, or communication as to what might have led to her to want to take her life.

Mystery of Kangogo’s death, last moments

Discovery of lifeless body

“We did not know at what exact time she entered the homestead before shooting herself in the bathroom. The mother Leah Kangogo was shocked to find the lifeless body in a pool of blood when she went to clean it in the morning,” said family spokesperson Robert Kipkorir,  Caroline’s uncle.

Besides not hearing or seeing her come in, the family also says they did not hear a gunshot.

“As a family, we are clueless on all that has happened and we leave the matter to the police to carry out their probes into the matter,” said Mr Kipkorir.

According to him, the family spokesman, questions abound, not just on the reason for her death, but also for the murders of Mr Ogweno and Mr Ndwiga.

“We are equally disturbed and would eagerly want to know the motive behind the two murders before her death. As a family, we had appealed to her to surrender to any police station but we are disturbed that she instead decided to take away her life,” said Mr Kipkorir.

And just like in the previous murders, the death of Ms Kangogo also featured a gun, a bullet, and unheard gunshots.

She was found in a composed lifeless position while leaning on the wall of the bathroom with her stretched legs crossed and her face covered with a dark-green shawl from behind with her right hand lying on the floor of the bathroom with her thumb and index fingers holding the pistol.

There was no blood spilled over the walls.

The door was pushed back and could not bar anyone from accessing the bathroom and when the mother found her, she did not touch anything but immediately called the police.

Left no suicide note

With the confirmation that no family member interfered with the scene, and with the benefit of a photo of the scene itself, Law Society of Kenya President Nelson Havi accuses the investigators of rushing to conclude that it was suicide.

“The media has been conscripted by DCI to run with the cover up story ‘Caroline Kangogo commits suicide’. Who was the witness? When was the autopsy done?” he posed.

He remembers telling special crimes boss on Tuesday, “I am sure you guys will eventually tell us that you found her dead,” Mr Havi said on Twitter yesterday.

LSK had on Wednesday hired veteran lawyer John Khaminwa to facilitate Ms Kangogo’s surrender.

Dr Khaminwa had sought court protection for Ms Kangogo not to be placed under custody if she surrenders, but instead released on bail.

Yesterday, it also emerged that Ms Kangogo evaded a police unit that was camping near her home since July 5 when she was accused of committing the first murder in Nakuru, further complicating the piecing together of her last moments leading to her death.

Police also suspect that the pistol she used to shoot herself is the one she used in committing the two murders.

“She left no suicide note behind and all that was recovered at the scene was a pistol and a phone without a simcard,” said Elgeyo Marakwet County police commander Patrick Lumumba.

A search by the police on her body found no any other item or vital documents which could have led to the motive of her death and other murders.

Family interrogated

Ms Kangogo’s father Barnabas Kibor and her mother, Leah, refused to talk to the media yesterday, choosing instead to huddle up in the home, meeting close relatives and friends.

Last week, Mr Kibor, himself a former inspector of police, pleaded with his daughter to surrender.

“I want to appeal to her to surrender. Just surrender. Even if it means going to a chief where she is, if she is not comfortable surrendering to her colleagues, the police, let her do it. We are still looking forward to seeing her, and we want her to surrender, not killed,” said Mzee Kibor last week.

Her death caused anxiety in Nyawa village as locals thronged the home to view the body giving police a hard time to control the crowd.

The area was cordoned off as a crime scene as investigators interrogated her family.  

Caroline was born in Nyawa, Tambach Division in the former Keiyo district. 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.

Her file indicates that she is still married to Commissioner of Police Richard Kipkirui Ngeno, who is based in Mombasa and has two children aged 11 and 7 years. Her marriage to the senior officer was troubled and she allegedly fought with him in public.

A lawyer who acted for her husband said the two separated eight years ago and had been fighting in court over the custody of the two children. But the matter was settled out of court.

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.

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