The youth whose body was found along Banana-Kiambu road in Kiambu County was a victim of mob justice, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has revealed.
John Muchiri Muthoni’s lifeless body was found on Saturday, January 4, in the Kawaida area with obvious signs that he had been attacked before his death.
At the time, activist Hussein Khalid revealed that the deceased’s girlfriend received an anonymous phone call telling her the whereabouts of Muchiri’s body.
In the wake of his death, the public pointed an accusing finger at security agencies amid a spate of abductions that have rocked the country since the start of December.
A picture of a crime scene tape.
Photo
Canva
However, in a statement on Monday, January 6, the DCI clarified that Muchiri, 27, was likely killed by an irate mob after a burglary attempt.
According to the DCI, the deceased was in the company of several other accomplices when they attempted to scale the wall of a rental property.
“Investigations revealed that the deceased, along with several accomplices, had scaled the perimeter wall of a nearby rental property with the intent to commit theft,” DCI’s statement said.
The DCI further revealed that witnesses reported hearing them walking on the iron sheet roof and tampering with the Wi-Fi network, and an alarm was instantly raised.
The group, according to DCI, scattered in different directions but Muchiri was cornered and lynched 20 metres from the rental property.
Muchiri’s body is currently at the Kihara Level IV Hospital mortuary, awaiting autopsy.
In a separate incident, the body of Ian Singoe was found Mwiki area. His cause of death has since been established as drowning.
The discovery of Singoe and Muchiri’s bodies in overlapping times sparked a wave of concern countrywide, and there was a general feeling that the deaths could be linked to the trend of abductions.
On Monday, counties including Mombasa and Nairobi witnessed a fairly peaceful second wave of protests to pile pressure on security agencies to curb the worrying trend of missing persons.
Meanwhile, four of the biggest names who were abducted since December 2024 have been reunited with their families.
A photo collage of Bernard Kavuli, Peter Muteti and Billy Mwangi who were reportedly abducted for sharing AI-generate images of the President.