Kenei probe: Police to trace suspects’ GPS history

What you need to know:

  • An examination of the house revealed that Kenei’s killers tried to stage the murder as suicide.

  • Crime-scene evidence has also raised questions about whether he was still alive when he got to his house.

Detectives investigating the killing of Sgt Kipyegon Kenei (below) want to establish whether the Global Positioning System (GPS) history of the officer’s phone matches that of the nine people linked to the case.

This is happening as the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) waits for the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to conduct parallel investigations into the murder puzzle.

The identity of the persons of interest has not been revealed by the DCI even as the Nation established that four are members of staff at Deputy President William Ruto’s Harambee House Annex office, three from the Department of Defence and two officers from a communications company.

Detectives narrowed down on the nine after obtaining call logs from Sgt Kenei’s phone.

The questioning of these people on their roles in the events that led to the killing began at the DCI headquarters on Kiambu Road in Nairobi on Wednesday.

Kenei’s body was found with a gunshot wound on the head at his house in Villa Franca estate, Imara Daima, Nairobi County, on February 20.

The house was declared the primary scene of crime by DCI detectives and Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor.

An examination of the house revealed that Kenei’s killers tried to stage the murder as suicide.

Crime-scene evidence has also raised questions about whether he was still alive when he got to his house.

DCI officers said that as an armed officer, Kenei would have thought to secure his door from inside before removing his clothes, shoes and socks to put on the pyjamas he was found wearing. But police said Kenei’s neighbours arrived at the scene before officers from the Embakasi Police Station found the door slightly latched.

“They opened it, only to stumble on the body,” Mr Kinoti said last week.

He said Kenei was killed to conceal evidence of the fake Sh39 billion arms deal involving former Sports CS Rashid Echesa.

“An examination of the crime scene raised the red flag that led to the conclusion that the death was stage-managed,” he said.