The quiet town of Mikunduri in Tigania East, Meru County, is mourning the loss of Adah Nyambura, a bright and ambitious first-year student at Maasai Mara University. Nyambura’s father, Peter Miriti, reported that his daughter was sexually assaulted, burned with an iron box, and strangled before her body was discovered in a bush near the university campus.
Miriti shared that a postmortem examination conducted at Narok Level Five Hospital mortuary unveiled the gruesome details of Nyambura’s final moments. The university community and the family are reeling from the brutality of the crime, seeking answers and justice for the young woman whose future was stolen.
Nyambura had been planning to travel home the following week and had called her father to inform him of her plans, as well as her intention to attend a party with friends that night. Concerns arose when both Miriti and his wife, Isabella Karimi, were unable to reach their daughter the next day. As the hours passed, their worry grew into panic.
The devastating news was ultimately delivered by a police officer who called Miriti during a church service on Sunday. Shattered and in shock, Miriti traveled to Narok without revealing the tragic news to his wife out of concern for her wellbeing.
With the assistance of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers, Miriti retraced his daughter’s final hours. Witnesses at the club where the party took place said she had been in the company of a man and several friends, who all left around 3 am. Nyambura’s boyfriend reportedly took her phone and left her at the club. She returned home on Saturday morning, and that was the last time anyone saw her alive.
The man who took her phone is currently in police custody, but his account of events contradicts the information Miriti has gathered. The whereabouts of Nyambura between Saturday morning and Sunday, when she was reported missing, remain a mystery.
Forensic evidence from the crime scene suggests that Nyambura was likely killed elsewhere before her body was dumped in the thicket. Miriti is pleading for a swift and thorough investigation to bring his daughter’s killers to justice. “Although this will not bring her back, justice must prevail. We also pray that God gives us strength to accept this reality,” he said.
Nyambura, a Bachelor of Education student majoring in Mathematics and Business, had already lined up a teaching position for the summer before returning to university in September. Her father, struggling to hold back tears, lamented the loss of his firstborn child: “They have robbed me of my firstborn for whom I had big plans. She was my friend, and she would not hide anything from me… her mother is so devastated she’s not talking.”
The family is now preparing to lay their beloved daughter to rest, as the community continues to grapple with the tragic and senseless loss of a promising young life.