In the morning of January 14th 2024, Kenyans woke up to yet another shocking news. The life of a young woman had been cut short in an Airbnb within Nairobi’s Roysambu estate, in the most brutal manner.

The mutilated body of the lady was decapitated and stuffed in a paper bag in the said apartment along TRM Drive.

The lady would later be identified by her family as Rita Waeni Muendo, a third-year student at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).

Currently, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) detectives are piecing together every detail about the murder most foul, to identify the killer(s), and what the motive was.

Four months later, TV47’s ‘Crime Watch’ is now exposing the underworld plan that led to the brutal murder of the 20-year-old.

TV47 senior crimes and investigations reporter Franklin Wallah has detailed crucial events that the DCI investigators must analyze, even as they hunt for the killer(s).

Wallah also spoke to Rita’s parents for the first time in Mukimwani village, Mbooni East, Makueni County, to bring you ‘Battered and Butchered’.

So what happened?

A man Rita barely knew came into her life. But what she did not know is that the man — who would later turn into her killer — had been stalking her for months.

According to the DCI, the man whose identity remains unknown first initiated communication with the late Waeni on October 2, 2023 through an Instagram account in the name of Carlton Maina (pseudo), a name that was later changed several times and finally pulled down immediately after the heinous murder.

But even as detectives try to identify the suspect, he is believed to have visited several hotels in Nairobi West in October 2023 and Green House Airbnb in Roysambu on Nov. 7 and Nov. 11, 2023.

And with a criminal mind, the suspected murderer would be cautious enough to evade CCTV cameras.

On the fateful day, the man would invite Rita for a dinner date, before brutally killing her under unclear circumstances. 

In an exclusive interview with TV47, Rita’s mother says she requested her daughter to be buried next to her bedroom to feel closer to her.

The family is yet to come to terms with losing their daughter who has left and everlasting void.

The parents share with us some of the messages the late Rita exchanged with her suspected killer, all this while, painting a demeanour of regret for failing to protect their daughter.

Meeting with the ‘killer(s)’?

But there is contradicting information about the whole murder. According to the parents, Rita had a friend who studies at Strathmore University. In July 2023, this friend (identity hidden for legal reasons) invited Rita to her place within Nairobi West near Magharibi Place.

When Rita arrived at the meeting point, the friend requested her to wait in the same vicinity within her rented hostel, where the meeting was to happen. In a short while as Rita stayed put, a stranger appeared from nowhere. The man identified himself to Rita as one Carlton Maina. The conversation was very brief. He then requested to have Rita’s Instagram account to make a follow up communication, and he was granted.

Little did Rita know that she had just made a costly mistake — one that would cost her life — by exchanging Instagram accounts with the stranger.

Rita’s friend is said to have disclosed this development to Rita’s parents days after her brutal murder and subsequent burial.

As part of her revelation, she said she was disturbed by freaking nightmares and hence the need to open up. In her plea, she requested to visit Rita’s graveside, a request that the parents politely rejected.

Why would a stranger ask for an Instagram account and not a mobile phone contact when he/she meets someone for the very first time? This is the question that pops up in Rita’s parents’ minds, alluding that the ‘meet-up’ was planned by the said friend.

Wallah contacted the said friend. She had too little to share and further warned him against using any piece of information from their conversation.  She however confirmed that Rita might have met the suspect on the day she visited her in July last year.

On asking more about the meet up, she said investigators had all we wanted. On the other hand, investigators said she did not offer them much. We requested for a one-on-one interview with her, but she declined citing security reasons and did not get back to us as agreed. Rita’s parents are convinced this is a person of interest. They believe Rita’s first encounter with the stranger was never a coincidence. 

Rita’s ex-boyfriend

More disturbing revelations have emerged, suggesting Rita’s ex-boyfriend had been pursuing her for better part of last year, after their gory break up early 2023.

Rita’s parents have information that the ex-boyfriend was working and studied at a different university. They say after their daughter broke up with the man who they knew as Kelvin, Rita received threats.

Reports reaching us say that after the said break up, the ex-boyfriend moved to Juja and alongside other people, he would visit Rita’s hostel without consent. This made life for her unbearable at school. The parents learnt of this after the demise of their daughter, and are now concerned.

We contacted the said ex boyfriend in our quest for answers, we also contacted Rita’s close friends at JKUAT. They expressed fear in sharing any piece of information with us. They say whatever happened to Rita was horrible, and none of them would ever imagine going through the same.

There is a request for investigators to keenly examine the mentioned Rita’s ex-boyfriend and the source of any previous threats against her life. Another appeal is for investigators to thoroughly probe circumstances under which Rita met the said Carlton Maina at Magharibi Place in Nairobi West.