Fooling no one! Questions after DCI resumes probe on murder suspect Jumaisi after Citizen TV exposé

Collins Jumaisi Khalusha, the prime suspect in a massacre where 42 women, including his wife, were killed and dumped at the Kware dumpsite in Nairobi's Mukuru kwa Njenga area.

He was arrested on June 15 and later escaped from Gigiri Police Station alongside 12 suspects on August 20, where a bounty was placed on his head.

Jumaisi had, however, argued in court that he was coerced into confessing to having killed the women between 2022 and July 11, 2024, raising questions on whether he was the fall guy and the killing was done by a superior party.

The investigative branch, known for its intelligence wherewithal, went silent for 13 months and revived Jumaisi's search, coincidentally after an exposé by Citizen TV.

Witnesses told Citizen TV that one of the bodies retrieved from the dumpsite had toothpaste marks around its face and a Kenyan flag inside a sack, unearthing more details behind some of the victims.

Most of the bodies were dismembered and wrapped in sacks, and most were unidentifiable.

"Among the bodies we got there was only one, the face was covered with Colgate, but she was cut into pieces. That is the only body we could identify, but the other ones were cut into many pieces in different sacks. The sack we found her in also had a flag," said Peter Gacheru, who was a volunteer diver during the retrieval process.

The revelation linked the killings to the disappearance of young protesters during the 2024 anti-government protests.

Most of the protesters were wearing or holding the Kenyan flag and had applied toothpaste around their eyes to repel teargas smoke.

Speaking on anonymity, an eyewitness claimed that a source disclosed to him that Jumaisi was released and did not escape as reported by security authorities.

"It is not easy for DCI to reveal their secrets, but they showed me a big room with a hole in the middle so high that it is impossible to get there even with someone's help. A friend told me that the officers released them," he said.

A look into the structural integrity of the cells at the Gigiri Police station, windows are installed so high, making it difficult for suspects to escape.

Titus Ndegwa, a businessman in Reli who worked close to Jumaisi, doubts the police narration that ties the suspect to the killings.

"It looks like they killed the people, and they are finding someone to blame because there is no way he could tie up all those bodies, yet he had no means of transporting those bodies (to the quarry)," Ndegwa noted.

Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kipchumba Murkomen staged a scattered defence when he was questioned on why the manhunt on Jumaisi turned cold.

"People can get lost in this country. I don't know whether he is still alive. What if he is not in the country? We request Kenyans to provide information, and I hope DCI will catch up with this person," he said during a roundtable interview.

A displeased Githunguri Member of Parliament (MP), Gathoni Wamuchomba, maintains that the DCI has deliberately slept on the job, seemingly going mute on purpose.

"You are telling us to help you to arrest? You don't have capacity to tell us who killed 42 women but you have capacity to go out and fish out Gen Zs from their mothers' bedrooms in the name of terrorists, yet you cannot give us one terrorist who killed 42 women," she told Citizen TV.

DCI has been faulted for resurfacing its manhunt on Jumaisi, as Kenyans online argue that they were caught with their pants down after the exposé.

"DCI is back to pretending they’re looking for Collins Jumaisi. These people think Kenyans are idiots," said a user on X.

The DCI has offered a Ksh.1 million reward for any information regarding the whereabouts of Jumaisi.