A 10-year-old girl who vanished from her family home in Utawala, Nairobi, was found alive in Kisii - over 300 kilometres away.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, the mother, who we will only identify as Eve, noted that her daughter went missing on Monday at around midday.
CCTV footage showed that the girl, a fifth-grade pupil, left wearing trousers, a hooded jacket, and a pink school bag.
Her mother noted that later, she learnt that the pupil bordered a matatu to Nairobi town, from where she boarded another to Kisii Town.
"She went missing yesterday at 11:49am and was found today morning in Kisii Town. We did not know the person she was with but we traced their identity using mobile money," she narrated.
Upon arrival in Kisii Town, the girl used the phone of another matatu driver whose vehicle she boarded heading to Nyamatari, where the family lived.
The mother noted that the family lived in Kisii until she got her job in Nairobi, forcing her to relocate. The child's father, who was working in Nyanza County, still stayed at their old house.
"We had been staying in Kisii Town until I got a job in Nairobi but the father still lives in Kisii Town. We were living apart because we work in different towns," she added.
After receiving the call from the driver's phone, the family, including the child's father, who had travelled to Nairobi to help with the search, contacted the police in Kisii to aid with the investigations.
The child is now in the care of a neighbour in Kisii as the police launched investigations into the incident.
Over recent years, cases of child abductions have been on the rise in Kenya. In 2020, a group of individuals abducted an 8-year-old girl and demanded Ksh800,000 ransom.
Two months later, 20-year-old Masten Wanjala was arrested after reports emerged that he was a serial killer targeting minors. Masten confessed to kidnappings.
The disappearances prompted the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to set up a special unit to explore the incidents and prevent future occurrences.
