39-year-old American, Nathan Hightman, confessed to stealing money from his Kenyan girlfriend Irene Gakwa, a nursing student in Wyoming, after she went missing in February 2022.
He also confessed to using Gakwa’s credit cards and deleting her email account during a hearing on Tuesday, March 28.
In addition, it was reported that Gakwa lost over Ksh400,000 to the man after months of dating.
Speaking to People, an American news outlet, Gakwa's brother Kennedy stated that their parents, who were in Kenya, were happy that the suspect was jailed as they believed he played a role in their daughter's disappearance.
“We are excited to see some movement but we still have the big question lingering, where is Irene? Hopefully, answers are coming soon,” stated Kennedy.
However, Hightman insisted that he did not know where Gakwa was, reiterating that she packed her belongings, got into an SUV, and left their shared home one night.
Gakwa was living with Hightman in Gillette when, at the time of her disappearance after he convinced her to move in with him, shortly after an online meeting.
Her family earlier revealed that they last spoke to her on February 24, 2022, through a video call on Whatsapp.
On September 2022, Francis Kombo, Gakwa's father, pleaded with President Joe Biden's administration to expedite the investigation process.
He stated that his daughter moved to the US to pursue a nursing career. Her elder brothers then hosted her before she met a lover online.
"What I fear most is to hear that she is nowhere to be found, yet there is somebody who knows her whereabouts. I need to know what happened to her and why.
"She was supposed to come home for Christmas. I was supposed to buy the ticket myself if she couldn't afford it. Now I don't know if I'll ever see her again," he lamented.
Hightman was arrested and charged in 2022 with two felony counts of theft, one felony count of unlawful use of a credit card, and two felony counts of crimes against intellectual property but was later released before he vanished again.
