The decomposing body of a 21-year-old female student who had been reported missing for over a week has been recovered from a forest in Kisumu, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has announced, with one suspect already in custody and a manhunt underway for his alleged accomplices.
Detectives from Kisumu West Sub-county, working alongside officers from Maseno Police Station and Riat Police Post, recovered the remains of Rose Benter Apondi, a second-year Social Work student at Ramogi Institute of Advanced Technology (RIAT), from Riat Forest. According to the DCI, the body bore multiple stab wounds.
Apondi, 21, had been reported missing since the night of April 5, 2026, after a distressing text message to her elder sister indicated she had been lured into a drinking outing by two male colleagues from the same institution. The message described how she had been left incapacitated, sexually assaulted and abandoned in a bush in critical condition, before her phone went offline.
Her sister had grown alarmed after hours of failed attempts to reach her, with poor network connectivity delaying communication. The text message only came through at midnight, confirming her worst fears.
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According to the DCI, detectives immediately launched a probe and used forensic analysis to trace the victim’s last known location to the Milimani area of Kisumu, near the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) offices. An initial search of the area, however, did not locate her.
A breakthrough came when investigators identified and arrested a prime suspect, named by the DCI as Steven Coleman Okoth. The DCI said Okoth, the victim’s alleged former boyfriend, was spotted with Apondi on the night she vanished, and had allegedly subjected her to threats and repeated unannounced visits to her RIAT residence over the two months preceding her disappearance.
According to the DCI, Okoth was found in possession of exhibits of significant evidential value at the time of his arrest, items that proved crucial in the search for the missing student.
The DCI said Okoth is currently being processed for arraignment in connection with the alleged sexual assault, torture, and murder of Apondi. Detectives are pursuing his alleged accomplices, who remain at large.
By Benedict Aoya
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