A househelp who vanished after allegedly orchestrating a daring heist at her employer’s residence has been arrested.
Rita Akinyi Yohana, who had served the family for 15 months, was apprehended by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in Nairobi.
The suspect had gone into hiding after reportedly stealing a safe loaded with valuable possessions, including family passports, foreign national IDs, gold coins, a hard disk, Diwali statues, and $4,000 (approx. Ksh.517,800) in cash.
The employer reported the incident on March 11, 2025, at Spring Valley Police Station.
“Upon visiting the crime scene, detectives discovered that the safe previously secured with screws in a wardrobe had been expertly unscrewed and stolen,” the DCI said in a statement on Friday.
Forensic intelligence eventually led authorities to Kawangware’s Congo Maumau area, where Akinyi was found in hiding.
A subsequent search of her residence uncovered a cache of stolen items, including 29 one-hundred-dollar bills, various denominations of Indian Rupees, perfumes, and women’s purses, all traced back to her employer.
“Further, Akinyi confessed to discarding the ransacked safe in the murky depths of River Maumau. With help from local divers, detectives managed to retrieve the safe from the riverbed only to find it emptied of its contents,” added the DCI.
Akinyi is currently in police custody awaiting arraignment in court, while the recovered items have been safely preserved as exhibits.
