Mystery as UoN student goes missing after visiting boyfriend in Kikuyu

A family in Nairobi’s Kabiria estate is appealing for help to find their missing daughter, a second-year student at the University of Nairobi’s Kikuyu Campus.

The family of 20-year-old Jane Atila, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Education, says she disappeared on October 3rd, and all efforts to trace her have been futile three weeks later.

There are now fears she may have been abducted, after callers allegedly demanded money from the family for her release. 

Citizen TV visited her guardian’s modest home in Kabiria, Nairobi, where the pain of her absence lingers. Her guardian, Patrick Mwangale, says Jane left her friends on campus to meet her boyfriend nearby, but by 7 p.m., her phone went off, and she never came back.

Efforts to trace Jane Atila have so far yielded nothing. Her family reported the matter at Kikuyu Police Station in Kiambu after days of frantic searching. Soon after, callers began reaching out, one claiming Jane was in Kilgoris, and others demanding money to “release” her.

The family travelled to Kilgoris in the hope of finding her, but their search ended in heartbreak — no sign of Jane. They returned to Nairobi, exhausted and anxious, still holding on to hope that she would come back home.

The caller, claiming to be a senior police officer from Kilgoris, told the family he had rescued Jane, but it turned out to be a lie.

Investigators are now trying to uncover who he is and how he obtained details about the missing student.

According to the Kikuyu Sub-county Police Commander, several phone numbers linked to the scam are under forensic analysis as detectives work to piece together the puzzle.

Neighbours, who declined to appear on camera, say Jane was last seen at her boyfriend’s house, where the two allegedly had a serious argument before she vanished.

The boyfriend has since moved out and switched off his phones, deepening the mystery over their whereabouts.