Detectives have arrested a 20-year-old man in connection with the gruesome murder of an 83-year-old granny, whose lifeless body was discovered on October 24, 2022, at her house in Kagundu-ini, Murang’a county.


Concerned villagers who broke into the deceased identified as Pauline Wanjiku's house after she failed to respond to their endless calls discovered her motionless body sprawled on her sofa.

A vigilant neighbour identified as Alice Wanjiku, who had not seen maitu (granny) as she was commonly referred to in the village, had walked into the granny’s uncharacteristically quiet and neat compound and called out her name, but only dead silence responded.

Alice checked maitu’s backyard and when she couldn’t find her, she gathered a few neighbours and they broke into the main house after she noticed that the kitchen door had been left ajar while the door leading to the living room was locked from outside. 

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They were shocked to find the old lady lying lifeless on her sofa with her hands tied together on her back, a headscarf hanging loosely on her frail neck and blood oozing from her mouth.

Immediately, the neighbours alerted police officers based at Kabati police station who rushed to the scene and established that the house had been ransacked and a 32-inch television, electric jiko and mobile phone all belonging to the deceased were missing.


All that was left behind was a kiondo (basket) containing the deceased’s foodstuff, which she had bought the previous evening at the local shopping centre 300 metres away, for her evening meal.

Details about the murder detectives based at the Crime Research & Intelligence Bureau, who immediately swung into action and visited the scene. 

Preliminary investigations established that the deceased lived alone and would occasionally be visited by her grandson Eric Wanyoike, who lives in the city and who had also bought her the television set, electric cooker and mobile phone.


Wanyoike was devastated by his granny’s demise and was struggling to come to terms with the brutal killing of his loving grandmother.

Investigations have so far led to the arrest of the prime suspect in Waithaka, Dagoretti, Nairobi county. 

The police recovered an electric cooker stolen from the deceased in the suspect’s hideout while the television set was recovered from a second suspect identified as Wilkister Awuor, who admitted to having bought it from the suspect at Sh5,000. 

Similarly, the deceased’s phone was also recovered from a third suspect identified as Mercy Kadenge, who bought it from the suspect at Sh600. 


Four suspects have been rounded up in connection with the senseless murder and are being held at Kandara police station as detectives conclude their investigations.