Detectives investigating the mysterious death of a 26-year-old woman in Kilimani have taken samples for DNA testing from former television news anchor Louis Otieno. Otieno was summoned at the Kilimani Police Station yesterday morning and taken before a doctor at the National Spinal Injury Hospital on Lenana Road.
He drove to the station around 9 am and was driven out in a police car to the hospital. Investigators reportedly requested blood samples and nail clippings from the former TV anchor. Police are investigating the death of Careen Chepchumba Kili, an employee of Kenya Power and Lighting Company, whose body was found in her bed at Santonia Court, off Kirichwa Road in Kilimani area on February 14, Valentines Day.
Postmortem examination by a government pathologist and a private pathologist hired by her family last Friday ruled out suicide and concluded that she had been strangled. The deceased allegedly at one time had a relationship with Otieno. Her father is Hosea Kili, managing trustee of LAP Trust. Otieno has already been to the police station for interview on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday last week.
Kilimani Police Commander Bernard Muli said investigations were on-going although his officers were yet to make any arrests. “So far we have interrogated a number of people. Let me not disclose more at this time,” said Muli. Otieno was previously one of the best known news presenters in Kenya.
He started at Kenya Broadcasting Corporation in the 1990s before moving to Nation Media Group. He moved to KTN in 2004 before joining Citizen TV in 2007. In 2009 he moved to K24 but is presently no longer on air. Chepchumba's family allege that she told them on February 12 that she had accumulated debts supporting Otieno.
According to the family, Careen itemised debts of around Sh3 million, mostly borrowed from friends. She claimed she helped Otieno settle medical bills and receipts from Nairobi hospital have been given to the police by her family. They also referred to a Sh1.3million balance she paid for a car that Otieno had traded in.
According to family members, Careen's association with Otieno begun when he moved into Rose Park Apartments in Kilimani where her family stays. Otieno reportedly rented the house in December 2010 and stayed there alone most of the time. Careen moved out of Rose Park in August 2011 and went to Santonia Court about a kilometre away.
Yesterday door number 2 to Otieno's house was locked with no one at home. The neighbours said he had not been at home since Monday last week. His reserved parking slots were empty with neighbours saying three of his cars had been driven away. Police at Kilimani confirmed Otieno had been interrogated. His statement reportedly confessed to having a relationship with the girl but denied any knowledge of her death. Otieno's phone went unanswered all yesterday as the Star sought to get a comment from him.
An electronic engineering graduate from Baraton University, Careen was supposed to be leaving for Australia this July for her masters. “As a parent I cannot say much. It is a big loss to us. Maybe I will find strength to talk about it (the death) one day,” said her father Hosea Kili. He said they had agreed on Sunday to help her as a family and let her return to the family house.
She left Rose Park at around 9pm and was dropped at her apartment by her brother. Her body was discovered on her bed on the morning of February 14. An incomplete and torn handwritten note addressed to Kilimani Police Commander complaining about extortion was recovered from a dustbin in her house.
Police initially thought Careen might have either committed suicide or died in a diabetic coma, but the family maintained her health condition had never caused any reason for an alarm. The family position was reinforced by pathologists reports that indicated strangulation as the cause of death.
Police found a bottle containing pills for treating diabetes by her well covered body that lay on the tidy bed. The door to her apartment was not locked and music was playing from a laptop on a bedside table. Police suspect she died on Monday night. Guards at the apartments have also been interrogated. The body of the deceased is lying at the Lee Funeral Home as the family prepares to bury her on Friday at their rural home in Baraton, near Eldoret.
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ONLY GOD knows the truth
ReplyDeletethe funny thing about justice is that it knocks at the opportune moment. so time will be the judge of this disturbing and saddening event and God never sleeps though man does.
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