DCI links Kiambu politician wife to murder of businessman George Mwangi

The body of a 58-year-old, Rwanda-based Kenyan engineer/businessman George Mwangi was discovered on Wednesday wrapped in a polythene bag and covered under a heap of cartons by casual labourers working on a tea plantation in Kamunyaka.

Mwangi is the husband of Gladys Chania, a Kiambu-based politician who unsuccessfully vied for the Kiambu Woman Representative’s seat in the recent general election.

Investigations were immediately launched into the murder of Mwangi and preliminary investigations have placed his estranged wife in the middle of the murder.

Police suspect that domestic wrangles and entanglement that involved the deceased’s mistress identified as Lucy Muthoni, a secretary at a local school, may have led to the murder.

Mwangi and Chania had been married for over two decades, and their union was blessed with three children.

However, according to multiple sources, their union seemed to have been experiencing turmoil since the woman would mostly spend her time at their Thika home while Mwangi would stay at the splendid 5-bedroomed Mang’u residence whenever he was in the country.

The couple also had some rental houses and Lucy came into the picture one day when she came looking for a house to rent.

Mwangi offered her one that was close to their home and then one thing led to the other and a love relationship blossomed between the two.

Their love relationship was no longer a secret, as every time the deceased was home, he would be spotted side by side with the woman at local entertainment joints and other social gatherings.

Some of the family members intimated to detectives that the deceased had introduced Lucy to his family as his second wife and she was well known to the extended family.

On the fateful day of the murder, Lucy had accompanied the deceased to a family function in Kimunyu where the prime suspect was also in attendance.

According to some eyewitnesses, Lucy was on the driver’s wheel of the deceased’s double cabin truck registration number KBY 849M and after the function, they headed back to Mang’u.

Upon arrival, she parked the vehicle and left for her house while the deceased proceeded to his residence.

Meanwhile, Chania had reportely arrived earlier and was in the house when Mwangi and Lucy arrived, according to detectives. 

Apparently, that was the last time the businessman was seen alive until his decomposing body was found in Kieni forest, by curious casual labourers in Kiamunyeki tea farms.

According to Lucy’s statement, they had agreed to go out on a date the following day but when he failed to call her at the agreed-upon time; she called two of his friends to call him on her behalf and inform him it was time, but the friends were informed by the main suspect the deceased had gone for a walk and left his phone behind. 

Lucy refrained from calling Mwangi when his wife was around after she allegedly gave her a thorough dress-down on one occasion. 

However, according to Chania, the deceased left the house on Sunday at 10am on foot, without his mobile phone and never returned, prompting her to file a missing person’s report at Mwea Police post on Tuesday at 8 pm.

George Mwangi was reported missing by his wife Gladys Chania, on October 11, 2022, at 8 pm at Mwea Police Post in Gatundu North, Kiambu County, vide OB No. 18/11/10/2022. 

On the same day, she made her report, eyewitnesses reported having seen a woman driving the deceased’s vehicle towards Kiamunyaka centre, where the vehicle developed a flat tyre and was fixed. 

According to a statement by the mechanic who fixed the tyre, the woman asked for directions to Naivasha and after she was directed she sped off. 

Another witness, who works at a tea collection point in Kiamunyaka, told detectives that she remembered seeing a fast-moving pickup truck being driven by a woman at around 3pm, with a load protruding at the back.  

She says she flagged the vehicle down and asked the driver to slow down since her luggage seemed to be falling off the vehicle. 

But the vehicle sped towards Kieni forest where the body was discovered the following day wrapped in a black polythene paper under a heap of cartons and empty bags of cement. 

It is after the body was dumped that the prime suspect, through a phone call at around 8 pm, made a missing person’s report. 

The detectives investigating the gruesome murder also learnt that the woman had hired a new employee identified as Morris Kamau, whose whereabouts remain unknown, on the eve of the murder after their previous one, John Mwangi, who had worked at the home for four years, allegedly failed to return home after he was sent to deposit some money on M-Pesa.

The newly hired employee, who is also a suspect in the murder, told detectives that on the day the deceased’s body was discovered, he had been asked by the main suspect to assist her in carrying a heavy load that was destined for the airport to the back cabin of the truck. 

When detectives arrested Gladys Chania last evening, the key suspect in the murder, she was driving the late husband’s pickup truck, the same one that was spotted headed towards Kieni forest.

Preliminary examination of the truck revealed bloodstains on the floor of the cabin, manila ropes and empty cement bags similar to those found covering the body at the scene.

After conducting thorough forensic documentation of the house, detectives based at the Crime Research & Intelligence Bureau, Homicide department, Forensic Crime Scene and Photographic units concluded that George Mwangi was murdered in his bedroom on the top floor of his house before his body was dumped in Kieni forest. 

Pieces of blood-stained metal rods, blood-soaked bed sheets, stained curtains and clothing were part of the exhibits that were recovered in the house by the sleuths based at the DCI National Forensic Laboratory.

So far, three suspects connected to the murder are in custody assisting detectives with investigations.