• The body had a wire around the neck and seemed to have been dumped there earlier on.
• Gathura was working on several investigative pieces including on land and health.
A decomposed body that was found on a roadside in Naivasha, Nakuru county, has been confirmed to be that of veteran Health and Science journalist Gatonye Gathura.
The body had been found on the Naivasha-Mai Mahiu Road on October 26.
It had a wire around the neck and seemed to have been dumped there earlier on.
The motive of the murder is yet to be established.
Gathura was working on several investigative pieces including on land and health.
It is not clear if the death had anything to do with his work.
The body was moved to the Naivasha Sub-County Referral Hospital morgue and booked as unknown.
After close to a month of investigations, the Registrar of Persons used finger prints to establish his identity on November 11 in a report to police.
Naivasha subcounty police commander Samuel Waweru said no identification documents were found on the deceased’s body.
He said he suspects Gathura may have been strangled due to the copper wire found around his neck, when his body was found on the roadside in Kihoto Estate in Naivasha.
“We suspect he was killed elsewhere and the body dumped in Naivasha,” Waweru said.
The journalist wrote for the Standard and Nation in the past and ran a Health and Science blog called Rocket Science (rocketsciences.co.ke).
His last article on the website titled 'Sterilised men protect their women against ovarian cancer – study', was published on October 19.
Prior to that, he had written two articles on October 16.
One was titled 'Kenyans drop guard as Covid-19 fatigue sets in', and the other titled '20,000 sex workers in Nairobi have mental health issues – study'.
He stayed alone in Nairobi.
His family is expected in Naivasha on Friday.