In the small village of Miiri in Mukurwe-ini, Nyeri County, a sombre mood hangs in the air at the entrance of the homestead of Julia Gathoni, an octogenarian who was decapitated in her sleep almost three months ago.
A tent covering a bunch of plastic chairs is still pitched at the homestead for the dozens of mourners who throng the home to pray and commiserate with the family daily.
When Ms Gathoni’s body was found, her head was missing. But the scene had been staged to make it look like she was calmly asleep.
The initial giveaway was a bloodied limb that was hanging from the bed.
Her daughter Rose Ngunjiri said her body was well covered with blankets while some pieces of cloth were twirled into a sphere to take the shape of a head.
She describes the mysterious murderer as a “very meticulous” person, given the manner in which he or she left her mother’s corpse.
According to her, save for her bloodied bedsheets and a pool of blood beneath the bed, the floor told no tale of the heinous act meted on her mother.
She said the head had been dismembered from the rest of the body with precision.
“It was around 6am when my daughter went to pick clothes for laundry and discovered the bloodied hand. We would have assumed she was asleep and carried on with our day until a certain hour when she woke up,” Ms Ngunjiri narrated. “I think she had tried to escape because she had a cut on her hand.”
The incident has shocked the entire village, with locals saying they have been forced to close businesses early and reduce movement in the evenings lest they encounter the mysterious killer.
Three months on, the head is yet to be found and the family is yet to bury their kin.
On two occasions, the family and members of Miiri village accompanied by officers from the Directorate of Criminal investigations (DCI) in Mukurwe-ini, have gathered to comb farms and forests in search of Gathoni’s head.
“There is no way we are going to bury her without her head,” Ms Waceke Kaigi, a sister of the deceased, told the Sunday Nation. “She was a jolly person with no known enemy. We are still wondering who killed her.”
The family is in a dilemma. Though they have been against burying her without her head, the piling mortuary bill is testing their will to wait.
“Life has to go on. Currently, we are stuck. There has been no word from those investigating and there is a bill we need to clear. As it is, we cannot raise that amount,” said Ms Ngunjiri, a daughter of the deceased.
The mortuary fee stands at Sh70,000 at the Mukurwe-ini Sub-County Hospital morgue.
Ms Gathoni’s family is now applying for a special permit from the government to allow them to bury their kin without a head, saying they can’t offset the morgue bill.
Mukurwe-ini OCPD Julius Achuka said they are waiting for the post-mortem results in order to make any progress with the case.
He said the bloodied carton is suspected to have been used to carry the head.
“We are waiting for results from the government chemist to see if the samples we took from the body and the bloodied carton we found will match to help identify the killer. We have searched for the head everywhere but we haven’t succeeded,” he added, noting that no arrests have been made.
When the murder was reported, DCI officers combed the area as they attempted to gather evidence that could help them nab the killers.
They said they found a bloodied carton and a blood-stained T-shirt which they took away for analysis.
“Every time I attempt to follow up, I am asked to wait,” said Ms Ngunjiri.
As questions linger on who could have killed the 83-year-old woman, a long-standing land dispute may have had a bearing on her death.
A five-acre piece of land that is being contested by two brothers has been the subject of a court case since 1971.
“The burial should not precede division of the land. We are really hoping the government will heed our plea and help us,” said Mr Trasicio Wambugu, a son of the deceased.
The family and other villagers recently held demonstrations.
“We want an overhaul of all security personnel in this area because there is some collusion to deny this family justice,” said one of the protesters.
