- Mercy Wachiga Maina’s decomposed body was discovered inside her apartment after neighbours reported a foul smell.
- Police found the apartment locked from inside and recovered a jiko containing burnt charcoal from the room.
- Detectives are investigating whether her death resulted from carbon monoxide poisoning, suicide, an accident or foul play.
Mystery surrounds the death of a 32-year-old woman whose decomposed body was discovered inside her locked apartment in Nairobi, nearly a month after she was last seen alive.
Mercy Wachiga Maina was last seen in early August outside her residence, where she was reportedly engaged in casual conversations with neighbours and apartment workers.
Concern grew after she disappeared from public view and could no longer be reached, with relatives and acquaintances left searching for answers about her whereabouts.
The situation took a grim turn when residents detected a foul smell coming from her apartment, prompting them to alert authorities.
Police officers who arrived at the apartment were forced to gain entry into the locked room, where they found Mercy’s decomposed body lying on her bed.
Jiko recovered from apartment
The discovery has left residents shocked, with questions now being raised over what happened to the woman and how she remained inside the apartment for weeks without being discovered.
Crime scene investigators who examined the room reportedly recovered a charcoal jiko, an important piece of evidence that could help detectives establish the circumstances surrounding her death.
Investigators are examining several possibilities, including whether she may have died from carbon monoxide poisoning after using the charcoal stove inside the room.
However, police have not ruled out other possibilities and are expected to rely on forensic investigations and a postmortem examination to determine the exact cause and circumstances of her death.
Police probe circumstances of death
The discovery has intensified calls for a thorough investigation, particularly because the apartment was locked when her body was found.
Detectives are expected to establish when Mercy died, whether anyone visited or interacted with her shortly before her death and how the apartment remained undetected for such a long period.
Her body was moved to the City Mortuary for preservation and further examination as investigations continued.
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Police urged anyone with information that could assist in reconstructing Mercy’s final days to come forward as detectives work to unravel the circumstances surrounding the death.
By Kimwele Mutuku
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