• She was aged 24 years and her body was found in the rented house at Lillies estate on the outskirts of the town.
• Police said she may have been killed three days before her body was found on Tuesday. Officers said it did bear obvious physical injuries.
Homicide officers are still investigating circumstances under which Kenyan-born Baharaini athlete Damaris Muthee was found murdered in her boyfriend’s house in Iten town.
She was aged 24 years and her body was found on Tuesday in the rented house at Lillies estate on the outskirts of the town.
Police said she may have been killed three days before her body was found. Officers who were at the scene said hey did not detect physical injuries.
Crime scene officers removed the body after many hours of dusting and examining the area.
The killing has been linked to an Ethiopian athlete who is said to have been the woman's lover. The suspect fled the area and called from outside the country, informing colleagues about the death.
“Neighbours did not know about the incident and police acted from information by other athletes,”Keiyo North police boss Tom Makori said.
He said the suspect called one of his friends in Iten informing about the killing.
“Initial investigations indicate the boyfriend is the one who committed the act because he has since fled the country and the body was found in his house,” Makori said.
Police sealed off the scene to investigate circumstances around the killing.
Details of the relations between the two were not clear but neighbours said they had been in the town for some time.
The latest killing occurred a few month after athlete Agnes Tirop was killed in the same town last October.
Her boyfriend Ibrahim Rotich has been charged in Court.
Iten, which is popularly known as the 'Home of Champions', hosts hundreds of local and international athletes who come to train in the high-elevation region.
Long-distance runners find it useful to expand their lung capacity.
The killing of the athletes has caused panic among local and international runners in the region who fear the town's reputation had been damaged.
Budding athlete Dennis Korir said the damaged reputation of the town would scare away foreign runner.
"The town will be viewed as no longer hospitable as it has been for many years and we stand to lose if the runners keep off from the region," Korir said.
(Edited by V. Graham)