A double death in Kabete, Kiambu County is being investigated by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI). The deceased is a woman, Ruth Karuga, and her 11-year-old son Francis Kinyanjui.
The DCI detectives believe Karuga may have poisoned her son before taking her own life.
“A postmortem is yet to be conducted on the bodies of the two but officers believe that poison was involved in the deaths,” said an officer privy to the ongoing investigations.
Kabete double death: Ruth Karuga, and her 11-year-old son Francis Kinyanjui.
The family reported Karuga was diagnosed with depression in 2017-2018 and was admitted to a hospital for treatment.
Also read: Interesting facts emerge about Bob Collymore’s two wills written before his death
The mother, Ms Grace Nyambura told Nairobi News that Karuga’s diagnosis really affected them as a family.
It has been established that she was admitted to the hospital for some time, and the family even fundraised with the aim of footing hospital bills.
“My daughter was doing well and she was always jovial, I am also shocked with what transpired. I can tell you for sure we all believed that she had overcome it all,” said Ms Nyambura, the mother to the deceased.
According to her, in December 2022, Ms Karuga was with the family, and they were having fun. Since then, she has always kept in touch with the family and never said that she was facing any challenges in life.
Ms Karuga, according to neighbors and family, was so close to her son and she usually took her out on several occasions.
Also read: Suspected killer nurse eludes capture: How is she surviving while on the run?
Photos shared with Nairobi News by her close allies clearly show that the mother-son bond was unbreakable even beyond death.
When the son graduated from Kindergarten and joined Primary School, Karuga was proud of his milestone that she even shared the image of the progression on Facebook, which she captured with the words “Happy graduation my son. Mum loves you so much.”
After graduation, Karuga took her son swimming and all these are captured in a series of photos.
Years later, the bond lead to what police suspect is a murder-suicide.
A police report in our possession reveals that their death was reported to the police by Ms Nyambura, who said she was concerned about her daughter’s silence. She was neither picking up calls nor responding to text messages.
Also read: Death is cruel: Tributes pour for man who died after car plunged from Diamond Plaza 2nd floor parking lot
Ms Nyambura was a member of the technical staff at Nyathuna Level Four Hospital and was concerned when her daughter had been silent since Monday, January 23, 2023.
“On arrival at the house, Ms Nyambura peeped through the window as the main door was closed from inside and she saw her lying on the floor besides the bed. It is then that she raised alarm and police were informed of what had transpired,” the report filed at Kibiku Police Post read in part.
When the officers arrived and broke into the house, they also found the second body of the son lying dead on the mother’s bed.
Police said both bodies had no physical injuries and no signs of a struggle in the house.
The scene was processed by officers and detectives attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) before the body was taken to the Kihara Sub County Hospital morgue awaiting a postmortem.
A detective privy to the cased and based in Kabete stated that the autopsy results would help determine the cause of death for the pair.
