A man accused of killing his girlfriend and leaving her body in a car at Boston’s airport while he fled to Kenya has escaped custody there.
According to the Associated Press, a man appeared at the police station in Nairobi on Wednesday afternoon, identified himself as Kevin Adam Kinyanjui Kangethe’s lawyer, and asked to speak with him.
“The officers agreed to his request and removed the prisoner from the cells and took him to (an) office … leaving them there. After a short while the prisoner escaped by running away and left the (lawyer) behind,” according to a report seen by the AP.
Officers pursued him but couldn’t catch up. The supposed attorney, John Maina Ndegwa, was arrested, the report said.
Nairobi Police Chief Adamson Bungei said Kengethe jumped into a privately owned minivan.
“We have arrested the officers who were on duty when he escaped to explain how it happened. It is just embarrassing to us,” he said.
Kangethe is charged in Boston with the murder of Margaret Mbitu on October 31, 2023, as CrimeOnline reported. He was detained in Kenya while awaiting an extradition ruling.
Mbitu was last seen leaving her job as a health care aide in Halifax, Massachusetts, on October 30. She reportedly traveled with Kengethe to Lowell, where he lived. She was found in Kengethe’s car at Boston Logan International Airport’s central parking garage on November e1. She had lacerations to her face, neck, and side. The suspect was arrested at a Nairobi nightclub on January 30.
A police official told the AP that Kengethe had renounced his US citizenship, prompting the delay in extradition. The judge was expected to rule about bond on Friday.
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[Featured image: Margaret Mbitu/handout]
