Fugitive Murder Suspect Kevin Kang’ethe Rearrested

Fugitive murder suspect Kevin Kinyanjui Kang’ethe was Tuesday rearrested after he dramatically escaped from police custody, police said.

Kang’ethe was arrested in Embulbul in Ngong on Tuesday evening as he sought refuge at one of his relatives’ homes. Nairobi police boss Adamson Bungei confirmed the rearrest of Kang’ethe.

“We have re-arrested him. He is in custody and we thank all that helped in this,” he said. He was brought to Nairobi under heavy security ahead of arraignment.

Police had focused on Ngong after all indications showed he was in the area.

Kang’ethe escaped from Muthaiga police station on February 7 in an incident that shocked many. He was awaiting extradition on a Massachusetts warrant. He was arrested in Westlands on January 30 and was to be extradited when he escaped from custody.

ADVERTISEMENT

Kang’ethe, 40, had been detained pending a ruling on whether he should be extradited to face a first-degree murder charge in connection with the death of Margaret Mbitu on October 31, 2023.

Massachusetts State Police said in early November 2023 that Kang’ethe had left her body in a car at Logan International Airport and boarded a flight to Kenya.

Massachusetts officials said they were working with Kenyan authorities to locate him, and he was arrested in a nightclub on January 30 after being on the run for three months.

Kang’ethe  had renounced his U.S. citizenship, which prompted the extradition process.

A Nairobi court had approved a police application for him to be detained for 30 days while the extradition issue was heard.

Officials said had he been an American citizen, he would have been repatriated without a court process.

Kangethe’s brother was on Monday detained for questioning over his escape from police custody. Also being questioned was the brother’s girlfriend, police said.

They were persons of interest in the case where Kang’ethe athe is wanted for murder in the USA and escaped from lawful custody. The two were picked up on Monday evening from an apartment in Ololua in Ngong and Westlands and taken for grilling. It is not clear what police want to learn from them but insiders said the brother may have talked to Kang’ethe the after he escaped from Muthaiga police station on February 7. Police believe Kang’ethe met his brother after he escaped custody.

Dozens of detectives had been tasked to hunt Kang’ethe for possible arraignment and extradition to the US.
His cousin and lawyer Beatrice Ng’ethe was also last Friday dramatically arrested and detained for questioning over the saga. She was detained in police custody before being released on Sh100,000 police cash bail.

Director of DCI Mohamed Amin said Beatrice was interrogated and released in connection with the escape of Kang’ethe.
Beatrice, Kang’ethe’s cousin, became a person of interest after phone records revealed that she communicated with the fugitive days before he strolled out of Muthaiga Police Station.
Police said a day before the murder suspect vanished into thin air, the lawyer was at Muthaiga Police Station to see him. But she has denied any role in the escape.

Detectives say he was using mobile phone numbers registered by her relatives.
A warrant of arrest was last Friday issued against Kang’ethe.

Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina gave the orders after an application by the prosecution, who said Kang’ethe is a dangerous person and on the run.

”In the view of the application that the respondent escaped jail, a warrant of arrest is issued as sought,” Onyina ordered.

The court heard that Kang’ethe escaped lawful custody at Muthaiga Police Station on February 7, at around 4 pm.

Four police officers who were on duty at the Muthaiga Police Station when Kang’ethe escaped from custody have been interdicted. The suspect was awaiting extradition on a Massachusetts warrant alleging he killed his girlfriend and left her body in a car at the Boston airport.

He was to appear in court on Friday, February 9 for directions on his extradition case. Witnesses said he was barefooted when he ran out of the station and took a matatu for Thika. Kang’ethe’s lawyer, John Ndegwa Maina was also arrested over the escape.

Maina was detained at Muthaiga Police Station shortly after Kang’ethe’s escape at around 5.30 pm on Wednesday, February 7. Maina had visited Kang’ethe, in his capacity as his advocate, four times before his escape.
Kang’ethe is accused of killing a 31-year-old Kenyan-born Margaret Mbitu who was based in Whitman, Massachusetts whose body was discovered inside a vehicle at Boston’s Logan Airport in November last year.

Mbitu, a health care aide in Halifax, was last seen leaving work Oct. 30 and reported missing by her family.

The prosecution in Kenya said the preliminary investigation showed Mbitu had left her workplace and travelled with Kang’ethe  to Lowell, where he lived, the prosecution said.
 It is not the first time such an escape has happened.
For instance, on October 14, 2021, self-confessed serial child killer Masten Wanjala, 20, escaped from police custody in Nairobi. Wanjala, who had recently confessed to killing 10 children in Bungoma, western Kenya, reportedly escaped from police cells in Nairobi under unclear circumstances. A mob in his hometown of Bungoma traced him to a house and beat him to death a couple of days later.