The family of renowned content creator Tabitha Gatwiri has revealed details of her untimely death.
Naomi Kuria, Gatwiri’s close friend and fellow content creator, shared a statement from the family explaining that a post-mortem conducted at the Kenyatta University Funeral Home indicated suffocation as a probable cause of death.
The late Gatwiri’s family issued the statement on Friday night, expressing their grief over the shocking loss while thanking the public for their support.
They also revealed that the post-mortem report highlighted two potential causes of death, with suffocation being the primary factor.
The family did not, however, provide details on the circumstances that may have led to the suffocation.
“The late Gatwiri passed on from positional asphyxia with brain oedema,” the pathologist’s statement read adding that a full toxicology report would be conducted soon to rule out the possibility of poisoning.
Positional asphyxia, also known as postural asphyxia in science, is a form of suffocation that happens when a person’s posture makes it difficult for them to breathe.
It usually happens when someone’s lungs are unable to expand correctly or when their mouth or nose is clogged.
Brain oedema, or swelling of the brain, is a common postmortem finding in cases of positional asphyxia death.
The Kenyan content creation community was shocked to learn about Gatwiri’s death on October 31.
Among the notable figures who mourned Gatwiri’s death publicly was Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka.
“She was a young woman determined to change the world for the better with her ideas.
Our discussions on the State of the Nation and what her generation could achieve given the opportunity were mind-provoking,” Kalonzo said.
With over 120,000 TikTok followers, Gatwiri was one of the most popular social media content producers in Kenya.
