A boda boda rider who is believed to be involved in the kidnapping and murder of Shantel Nzembi, a grade two pupil in Kitengela, was on Wednesday, June 2 arrested by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
Detectives traced the rider to the Kitengela bus stage following intelligence reports and statements by eye witnesses.
The police believe that the rider could be working with a woman who aided in the abduction of the eight-year-old girl and later asked her mother for a ransom of Ksh300,000.
The rider was found in possession of a mobile phone which police believe was used to contact Shantele's mother, Christine Ngina.
Nzembi went missing on Sunday afternoon, May 30, when she left the house to play with her friend only identified as Sharon, the daughter of a police officer who lived nearby.
"I went to look for her. I asked other children to direct me to Sharon’s house because I only knew the apartment she lived in but not the specific house but there was no one in the house.
“I returned twice but still did not find anybody nor traced my daughter. No one had seen her at all,” Ngina disclosed.
At around 5 o'clock, the aggrieved mother requested for Sharon's parents contact from a caretaker and asked whether she knew where her daughter was.
“Sharon’s mother picked the call but told me her daughter was away visiting a relative," Ngina stated.
She would then receive a call from a private number and a voice of a female lady asking for ransom to which she promised to get.
Her daughter's body would be found stuffed in a gunny bag the next day at Noonkopir.
Detectives suspect that the abductors were targeting Sharon and not Shantele. The two were close friends who had similar size, complexion and hairstyle.
