Detectives from the Homicide Investigations Bureau and the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB) have arrested three more prime suspects linked to the murder of activist Richard Otieno Haga.
In a statement on Monday, February 24, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said the trio was forensically connected to the crime scene together with two other suspects who are still at large.
“The suspects Peter Oketch, alias DJ IO, Joseph Kihara Kariuki, alias Jose, and Evans Aseka Okututi were forensically connected to the crime scene with other suspects who are still at large,” read the statement in part.
According to DCI, the suspects were transported from Molo to Elburgon to carry out the murder of the activist after which Oketch and Kariuki fled to Majahida in Bariadi District, Tanzania, in an attempt to evade being apprehended.
However, Tanzanian authorities closed in on the two suspects and they were left with no option but to return to Kenya on Friday, February 21.
Read More
“Following the incident, Peter Oketch and Joseph Kihara Kariuki fled to Majahida in Bariadi District, Tanzania, in an attempt to evade capture. However, they returned to Kenya on Friday, February 21, 2025, after Tanzanian authorities closed in on them,” DCI stated.
The two suspects and their accomplice were then nabbed by sleuths and are scheduled to appear before the Nakuru Chief Magistrate's Court on Monday.
This comes weeks after DCI detectives arrested five individuals who are also linked to the death of Otieno.
The five suspects include; Geoffrey Mavado, John Ndegwa, Jorim Ngonga Sura Clinton Simantu, and Peter Mwaniki.
"The suspects are prime suspects Geoffrey Mavado, John Ndegwa, and Jorim Ngonga Sura, believed to have been directly involved in the brutal killing. The other two; Clinton Simantu alias Muiruri and Peter Mwaniki alias Pinchez are bodaboda operators who have been identified as the persons who ferried the hitmen to and from the scene of crime," DCI announced.
Otieno was found dead on January 18, 2025, and an autopsy conducted on his body by Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor confirmed that he died from severe head injuries caused by a sharp object.
