Nyeri man, 82, missing months after going to visit a friend

On July 5, 2018 Peter Githinji left his home in Kanyama, Nyeri County on a routine visit to his friend in the nearby Magutu village.

More than 14 months later, the 82-year-old is man is yet to return home and his family is running out of clues of his whereabouts as well as the hopes of ever finding him alive.

His disappearance has left both the family and detectives with more questions than answers amid suspicion that he could have been murdered.

At the moment, detectives have been digging into claims that Mr Githinji disappeared inside Mt Kenya Forest while on a prayer excursion, a theory that has failed to yield any tangible leads.

His family told the Nation that he left home on the morning of July 5, 2018 saying he was visiting a lifelong friend identified as Ngatia wa Mbuthia in Magutu, about 10 kilometres from his home.

NORMAL VISIT

“It was normal for the two of them to visit each other at either homes. He would go there and stay for days. So when he said he was going to visit his friend we were not concerned at all,” said Mr Timothy Muhoro, his son.

Even when he did not come back home or communicate for three days, his family was not worried as they said it was all normal.

But after three days Mr Muhoro got concerned over his father’s silence and decided to reach him and find out if he was faring on well.

“I called him but his phone was switched off. Then I called his friend’s son to enquire if he arrived safely,” he said.

NO RETURN

Things took a strange turn when his family was informed that the father of three had arrived at his friend’s home and later left.

Believing that their octogenarian father had decided to come back home, they opted to wait for his safe return.

A day later, Mr Githinji had not arrived home as expected and his son and two daughters decided to go looking for him.

“When we went to the home he had visited we were given a very strange narrative. They said that he had gone to pray in the forest with his friend’s son and parted ways while inside the forest. It had been over a week and this was the first time they told us that our father had gone into the forest, something we were unaware of,” Ms Sabina Wangari said.

According to reports, a man identified as Samuel Muriuki said to be in his 40s accompanied the missing man into the forest to pray on July 6, 2018, a day after he left home. The two allegedly spent the day and night inside Mt Kenya Forest in prayer.

On their way back, the two reportedly disagreed on which path to take and decided to part ways.

SKETCHY ACCOUNTS

“He claims that my father insisted on following the river downstream to exit the forest. All this was revealed to us when we went to their home. We were not aware of any plans to go to Mt Kenya Forest for any prayers,” Ms Wangari said.

The family is now poking holes into this theory, questioning the silence of their father’s friend even when they knew he had been left behind in the forest.

At the same time, it has since emerged that Mr Githinji never got to meet his friend Mr Ngatia as he had informed his family.

“If my father had indeed been left in the forest, why did they not tell us when we called to enquire if he had arrived at their home safely? Besides, how is it that he never met the friend he had specifically set out to meet? This narrative is so fishy,” Ms Wangari said.

Two missing person reports were made on July 12 at Kiamachimbi Police Station and Gaikuyu Police Post under OB/2/12/7/2018 and 07/12/07/2018 respectively.

ONGOING INVESTIGATIONS

The case was later be transferred to Karatina Police Station under the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.

Mr Samuel Muriuki, who was reportedly last seen with Mr Githinji, was questioned by the DCI over the disappearance and released.

Multiple efforts to locate the 82-year-old man inside the forest have so far yielded no results even as the family accuses the police of doing little to locate their missing father.

“All we want is to find our father, whether dead or alive. Clearly, the police are doing very little to help because it has been a year and so far we have made no progress in knowing what became of our father,” Ms Wangari told the Nation.

Nyeri County Criminal Investigations Officer Johnah Kirui on Wednesday told the Nation that the case remains open and that various narratives are being looked into.

The DCI boss noted that while the case is a strange one, detectives are looking into whether the man’s disappearance was accidental or forced.

“It is a strange case but he is yet to be traced. We cannot tell if someone was involved but we are looking into whether there was a possible motive,” the police boss said.

At the same time, detectives are said to be looking into the possible involvement of relatives in the man's disappearance.