Nyamira Couple’s Murderer, A US Resident, Has Been Arrested

The primary suspect in the horrifying murder of a couple in Nyamira County on March 21, 2023 was apprehended by police on Friday.

Denis Ondara, 40, the suspect, was apprehended following a four-day pursuit that came to an end at the Isebania border in Migori County. Ondara was armed with a Ceska pistol that was loaded with 14 rounds of ammo. Friday afternoon, just before the culprit crossed the border to flee justice, homicide detectives pounced on the armed and dangerous man.

When Edward Morema Nyangechi, 62, and Grace Mong’ina Morema, 58, who were both stationed in the US, did not show up for breakfast by 10 am that fateful morning, their bodies were discovered inside the house.

The American city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, was home to the pair. The initial report submitted to Gesima Police Station states that farmhand Jeremiah Bosire, 30, and house help Silvia Barongo, 19, raised the alarm together after becoming suspicious. This attracted the attention of other locals.

The man’s body was located in the garage, and the woman’s body was found lying dead on a bed in a pool of blood in one of the bedrooms while the locals were conducting a search. Their wrists and legs were bound together with electric cords, and their heads showed serious incisions.

The two people perished as a consequence of strangulations and blunt object injuries to their heads and upper limbs, according to an autopsy report later made public by the government pathologist.

The occurrence was immediately the subject of an investigation. The detectives learned on May 15 that the primary suspect had been located in Ruai, where he had fled to following the event. The officers were moving quickly, but he narrowly escaped their dragnet as they closed in on him.

But the dedicated sleuths had tested him and were breathing down his neck, waiting for the most appropriate moment to pounce, unbeknownst to the culprit whose minute of arrest was drawing near.

The sleuths, who were disguised as hawkers at the border selling the highly prized mukombero roots, hit in one swift motion on May 19 at 3 pm and quickly removed the armed suspect. The suspect’s hatchback was negotiating the first bend toward Migori on its way to the capital before the other border traders peddling goods could comprehend what had just happened.

14 additional 9mm rounds and a variety of spanners, nuts, screwdrivers, and pliers—all of which had been used to enter parked cars—were found once the suspect was searched. The suspect is also suspected of being responsible for a number of violent robberies and murders that have been reported in the counties of Nairobi, Nyamira, Kisii, and Migori. Three individuals have been detained thus far in relation to the double homicides.