Police have released video of a man believed to have murdered university student Rita Waeni in an Airbnb, dismembered her and taken her head.
Investigators link the killing on January 13 to occultism. The head was later found in a dam in Kiambu and identified by her parents during the postmortem.
In the footage, a slim young man, wearing dark glasses, who seems to be in his late 20s, can be seen walking side by side with the fourth-year student.
Her dismembered body was found in black bags in the Roysambu apartment dustbin. Her body had been chopped up with a hacksaw.
Waeni, a fourth-year student, can be seen to the right of the suspect who was wearing a white baseball cap, black jeans, a black pullover and white shoes.
One of the frames from the footage captures a moment in which he seemed to have been smiling. The white baseball cap is pulled low over his forehead. That and his dark glasses make it difficult to identify him. His face is barely visible.
But the jawline and cheekbone reveal a dark complexion
No arrests have been made in the murder that shocked the nation.
Waeni was buried in a private ceremony at her parents’ home in Mukimwani village, Kisau location, Makueni county, on February 5.
Police said the murderer may have invited Waeni on a date.
He stuffed the body parts in plastic bags, dumped the remains in the dustbin of the apartment and disappeared. The landlord told police the suspect paid for the room via M-Pesa on Saturday, January 13, at 3 pm.
The next day, the caretaker stumbled on the polythene bags and a blood-soaked bed sheet on the staircase.
The family said Waeni had left her aunt’s home in Syokimau, Machakos county, to meet a friend.
Police rushed to the scene after the caretaker called. The head was identified by the family on January 25 during the postmortem conducted by chief government pathologist Johansen Oduor.
Oduor said she appeared to have been strangled, and then dismembered with a hacksaw.
The police released the remains to her family on February 2 after conducting DNA tests to establish that the head belonged to the body.
