The case involving four friends who mysteriously vanished after having lunch at a popular club in Kitengela on Monday, April 19, has taken a new twist after it was revealed that one of the missing men was linked to a similarly mysterious incident last year.
According to a report by Nation, the said person is known to be the ring leader of the gang and has been involved in various criminal activities. He has also spent time at Shimo la Tewa prison.
Reports also indicate that three friends close to the criminal mastermind had also disappeared under similar circumstances in 2020. Their car was abandoned at Parklands in Nairobi before they vanished.
Similarly, in the ongoing probe, the missing men's Toyota Mark X was also found 500 meters from the Kitengela club on Tuesday, April 20.
Detectives from the Kitengela police station are trying to determine if the two cases could be connected and whether the ring leader could have carried out the hatched scheme.
Jack Ochieng, Benjamin Imbai, Brian Odour and Elijah Obuong reportedly left the restaurant in a white Toyota Mark X only to vanish into thin air minutes later.
Friends and relatives of the missing men noted their phones went off at around 3 pm.
"We spoke at around 1 pm and he promised to be back on time for my hospital appointment. By 3 pm his phone was off. His friends were also out of reach. I knew something was wrong," Odour's wife, Catherine Atieno stated.
Ochieng's wife, Monica Wanjiru also noted that her husband had financial struggles as a result of his firm collapsing. She pointed out that he sought to regain his financial footing through the meetings with his friends.
"He had been struggling financially but he was a hardworking honest man who gave us the first priority. Before he disappeared, he sent me Ksh100 and promised to call later. I noticed his phone was off at 4 pm," she stated.
Imbai's younger brother, Elvis Imbai noted that they found the whereabouts of the car as a result of a Facebook post.
"Someone posted on Facebook that a car belonging to my brother's friends had been parked near a club in Kitengela on April 20. When we got there we found three jackets on the back seat," he stated.
Imbai alerted Kitengela police officers who towed the car to the station. A detective privy to the investigations noted that they are on the hunt for a person identified as Erico on social media, who had alleged that the four had been killed.
"Our lead is the person on social media who claims the friends were killed. We believe he is the same person who directed family members to where the car had been abandoned," the detective stated.
