Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have arrested the prime suspect in the murder of 25-year-old Joy Kanini Gathu.
In a statement on Sunday, July 12, DCI said the suspect, identified as John Nderitu Mureithi, was arrested on the night of Friday, July 10, by detectives from the Homicide Investigations Bureau.
According to the DCI, the suspect was nabbed along the Nanyuki–Isiolo Road while allegedly attempting to flee to Uganda.
“Detectives from the DCI Homicide Investigations Bureau have arrested the prime suspect in the brutal murder of 25-year-old Joy Kanini Gathu, bringing to an end an intelligence-led manhunt that culminated in Timau, Meru County.
“The suspect, John Nderitu Mureithi, was arrested on the night of July 10, 2026, along the Nanyuki–Isiolo Road while allegedly attempting to flee to Uganda,” the statement read.
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Following Mureithi’s arrest, the DCI detectives conducted a search and recovered four mobile phones, including one believed to belong to the deceased.
The sleuths secured the handset as a key exhibit in the ongoing murder investigation.
The Investigative agency noted that a confrontation between Mureithi and the deceased inside his house in Ngangarithi Estate, Nyeri, on June 9, 2026, turned fatal.
The suspect then dismembered the victim's body and disposed of the remains at different locations to conceal the murder.
“Investigations further established that the suspect later dismembered the body and disposed of the remains at different locations in a calculated attempt to conceal the crime and frustrate investigations,” DCI stated.
The suspect is currently at the Kiganjo Police Station and is expected to be presented before court on Monday, July 13, 2026, as detectives seek custodial orders to facilitate completion of the investigation.
This comes a month after the police arrested the main suspect linked to the murder of Michael Omworo Ombui, the Mathare father who was stabbed to death while taking his young son to school.
In a statement, former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko revealed that the suspect had been traced and arrested in Migori after months on the run.
Ombui, popularly remembered as Baby James’ father, was attacked in January 2025 in Mathare Area 4 settlement.
"Ali, the main suspect who allegedly brutally stabbed to death the late Michael Omworo Ombui, father to Baby James, in Mathare while taking the child to school, has finally been arrested in Migori where he was hiding," he said.
