Police officers investigating the escape of Kevin Kang’ethe from Muthaiga Police Station have made significant progress in tracking his whereabouts.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, the officers revealed that they had managed to trace down a signal of a phone given to them by his lawyer to Machakos County.
The signal, police noted, has since helped them to establish the whereabouts of the phone in what could be a major clue in finding the fugitive on the run.
Consequently, their investigations will focus on Machakos County as efforts to track down the man intensify.
Meanwhile, questions about how the man, a suspect waiting for extradition to the US, outsmarted police officers in a guarded station have continued to linger.
At the time Kang’ethe was reported to have escaped, witnesses in the vicinities said they did not witness any significant or alarming commotion and that they only saw a barefooted man running with two police officers running after him.
Police chiefs in Nairobi on Thursday, February 9, held a meeting at the Muthaiga Police Station as pressure piles on the officers to trace and re-arrest Kevin Kang’ethe.
However, the National Police Service was yet to issue a comprehensive update on the progress made.
His lawyer and four police officers on duty on Wednesday, February 7, when Kang’ethe escaped are still in custody for interrogations as the police hope to gather information from them.
How Kevin Kang’ethe escaped
In an OB report on Thursday, police said that Kang’ethe had been allowed out of his cell on Wednesday evening to talk to his lawyer who visited him at around 4.00 pm.
Also Read: Kevin Kangethe Suspected of Killing Girlfriend in US Escapes from Police Station
Police officers acknowledged having allowed him and his lawyer to have a conversation inside a room named Anti-Crime office no.3 as they presumed it was a normal meeting between a lawyer and a suspect.
However, the report stated, the suspect used the opportunity to escape, running away from the station and left his lawyer behind.
At the time, the station’s commander was holding a meeting but was later alarmed by a loud noise of police officers running after the fugitive.
Also Read: Police Explain Last Moments Before Kevin Kangethe Escaped from Custody
Their efforts to re-arrest Kang’ethe at the time, however ended in futility.
Kevin Kang’ethe, a Kenyan citizen formerly living in the United States was arrested in late January after months of a manhunt coordinated by authorities in Kenya in collaboration with their US counterparts.
He was accused of killing his girlfriend, Margaret Mbitu in Massachusetts in November 2023, before fleeing to Kenya.
Upon his arrest in Nairobi’s Parklands area, the US authorities made a formal application to extradite him to the country where he was lined up to face murder charges, as confirmed by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
