Body of Missing 21-Year-Old College Student Recovered in a Forest

Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have recovered the body of a 21-year-old missing RIAT College female student.

In a statement on Monday, April 13, DCI said the decomposed body was found at the RIAT Forest in Kisumu County.

According to the investigative agency, the body of the college student was bearing knife stub wounds.

“Detectives in Kisumu west in the company of officers from Maseno police station and those drawn from Riat police post have recovered a decomposing body of a 21- year- old RIAT College female student in RIAT forest, following her earlier reported disappearance,” DCI said.

The recovery of the body follows the arrest of Steven Coleman Okoth, who is believed to have orchestrated the gang rape, torture, and subsequent disappearance of the college student on the night of April 5, 2026.

DCI noted that concern over the victim’s whereabouts began when her elder sister was unable to reach her by phone due to poor network connectivity

The situation escalated at around midnight when the sister received a distressing text message.

“From the text, it was revealed that she had been lured into a drinking spree by two male colleagues from the same institution, leaving her incapacitated.

“In her vulnerable state, she was sexually assaulted and later abandoned in a bush in critical condition. But before she could be helped, her phone went offline,” DCI said.

Detectives launched investigations and, using crucial leads from forensic analysis, the team traced the victim's last known location to the Milimani area near the Kenya Wildlife Service offices.

However, the search efforts did not yield any results in finding the missing college student.

The breakthroughs in the investigations came after detectives identified and arrested a key suspect, said to be the victim’s former boyfriend.

The suspect had reportedly been seen with the victim on the night of her disappearance.

“Investigations further revealed a series of threats issued to the victim over the past two months by the suspect, who repeatedly visited her residence in RIAT in search of her,” DCI added.

During the arrest, the suspect was found with crucial exhibits of evidential value, which detectives have been using in their search for the missing student and other suspects.

Okoth is currently being processed for arraignment in court as the search for his accomplices continues.