Nairobi – A Kenyan man suspected of murdering his girlfriend in the United States and leaving her body in an airport car park has escaped from custody in Nairobi, police said on Thursday.
Kevin Kangethe was being detained pending extradition to the United States over the death of Margaret Mbitu late last year, but slipped out of a police station on Wednesday evening.
“This is embarrassing,” Nairobi police chief Adamson Bungei said.
“We have arrested the four officers who were on duty when he escaped to explain how this happened and we are looking for him,” he told reporters.
US and Kenyan authorities had launched a manhunt after Mbitu was found stabbed to death in a car park at Boston’s Logan airport in November.
Kang’ethe escape shames police:
Kenyan suspected of murdering girlfriend in the US escapes. Kevin Kangethe escaped from police custody unexplainably.
Kangethe was detained pending extradition to the US. Multi-agency team traced phone signals to Machakos County.
Several police… pic.twitter.com/yiv2CGZaPK
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) February 8, 2024
An arrest warrant was issued for Kangethe after he fled the United States for his native Kenya, where he was arrested in late January.
Police said the suspect, who media reports variously said was aged 40 or 41, had been removed from his cell on Wednesday for a meeting with his lawyer, who has also been arrested.
“After a short while the prisoner escaped by running away and left the lawyer behind,” a local police statement said.
At the time of the escape, the station commander was chairing a meeting with anti-crime personnel in her office, it said, adding that officers gave chase but were unable to catch Kangethe.
Media reports said he had jumped into a matatu, a privately owned minibus widely used for transport by Kenyans.
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Source: AFP
Picture: X/@ItsMutai
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