Autopsy: Mlolongo hairdresser Mwende was strangled to death

Slain Mlolongo hairdresser Jane Mwende Mwanzia was strangled, an autopsy has shown.

The post-mortem conducted at Montezuma Monalisa Mortuary in Machakos on Thursday evening indicated that 29-year-old Mwende died from asphyxiation, caused by manual neck compression.

A family spokesman John Mutuku said pathologists told them Mwende was strangled using a piece of clothing.

“The killers used a piece of cloth to compress her neck to death,” he said.

Pathologist Dr Michieka Michieka said there was a clear indication the woman died out of lack of oxygen due to strangulation.

Police said they are making good progress in the case.

Two suspects were Wednesday detained by a court in Mavoko for 10 days to enable police to conduct their probe.

Mavoko Law Courts Senior Principal Magistrate Barbra Ojoo allowed the State to continue holding Evelyn Wanza Katumbu and Faith Nthemba Kyalo as investigations continue.

The body of the salonist Jane Mwende was recovered from a pit latrine in Mlololongo, Machakos County on Tuesday.

She had been missing for two weeks, her family and police said.

The suspects were arraigned on miscellaneous charges at Mavoko Law Courts on Wednesday.

However, another suspect was released. 

The detectives handling the matter said they are looking for more suspects. They will also need time to record statements and take the suspects for mental tests.

Police received information that Mwende may have vanished as a result of a love triangle, which they are now investigating.

A prominent land dealer has been mentioned in the matter, police said.

The decomposing body of the 29-year-old Mwende was retrieved from a pit latrine where it had been for two weeks.

The suspects who were arrested last week in connection to Mwende's disappearance had earlier misled the detectives to a Magongo forest in Wote, Makueni County.

They later changed the narrative, leading the police to Kiserian in Kajiado before revealing the actual scene where Mwende's body was discovered.

Mwende is said to have received a phone call on August 25, from a person posing as a client in need of her hairdressing services at their home.

She left, never to return, police said.

She also failed to pick up her child from her Yatta home in Machakos after the August holidays.

Family, friends and colleagues of Mwende had been frantically searching for her since she disappeared.

They said they had been to police stations, hospitals, and even morgues without success.

Machakos County Police Commander Patrick Lobolia said they found the body in a pit latrine.

Police are looking for two more suspects in the murder.