Slain electoral agency manager Chris Msando was picked up from around Mater Hospital in Nairobi’s South B on the night he died in July.
Msando was last captured driving his car towards the estate before someone else drove it out and eventually to Thika Road, where it was finally discovered two days later.
The former Information and Communication Technology manager at the IEBC was tortured and killed early Saturday, July 29, days before the August 8 General Election.
Investigations by KTN have also found it was in South B that Msando separated with Carol Ngumbu, the lady he was last seen with.
Carol's body would be found dumped about a kilometre from where the corpse of Msando was discovered a few hours after the killing.
Post-mortem examination of the 21-year-old’s body confirmed she was strangled to death and some of her teeth pulled out.
Public cameras
Footage from public cameras mounted along major highways in the city have confirmed that the slain ICT manager’s car was dumped along Thika Road by someone else.
After Msando was dumped and likely picked up by another vehicle, the man driving his car pulled down the windscreen sunshade to conceal his face.
Witnesses suspect the man also put on Msando’s shirt to lose any tracks considering the high number of surveillance cameras around the city roads.
Witnesses who saw the car parking said the driver was a tall slender man – a description that does not come close to the short and stocky figure that was Msando’s.
A night guard in the vicinity of where the Land Rover Discovery was parked told of a slender, tall and light-tanned driver who left the car and walked away.
Police have not established the motive of the gruesome killing, but it is widely believed that his death was linked to his duties at the electoral agency.
Evidence of torture marks on his body confirmed the killers were up to a lot more than eliminating him.
His mother shared with KTN News the pain of losing her last-born son in the most excruciating way, wishing that the killers should just have shot him dead if all they wanted was his life.
“I want to know who killed my son, I will tear that person apart with my own teeth,” said the sobbing Maria, 72.
It all started as an ordinary Friday evening when Msando left his office at Anniversary Towers, before entering a pub on the ground floor of the same building.
Before long, he walked to another nearby nightclub where he would be joined by Carol and another man – fitting the description of the man who dumped his car.
Workers at the club told the police that Msando left with Carol some 20 minutes past 2am that night, minutes after the gentleman walked out.
Four minutes later, his vehicle was seen leaving the city centre with a lady wearing a red top, and a description that fitted Carol, a medical student.
It then drove through Kenyatta Avenue, onto Uhuru Highway before it took a left turn at the Bunyala Road roundabout.
Ten minutes later, the same vehicle is captured making its way back into the city centre but this time with only one person on board, a man.
In another 13 minutes, Msando’s car is captured on Juja Road driving towards Thika Road, marking the last time the SUV was captured by cameras.
KTN News’ investigations contradict an earlier version given by the police indicating that Msando’s car drove to Mlolongo with three passengers before making an abrupt about-turn toward Nairobi.
But before reaching the city centre, Msando is alleged to have alighted near Belle-Vue in South C to make a call, standing beside him was a well-built woman clad in yellow.
The two would then drive back to town before heading to Thika Road where the trace disappears.
Identities of the supposed passengers have never been revealed or their photos circulated as they would easily have been captured by the powerful cameras.
His widow Eva spoke for the first time about the last interaction on the phone on that fateful night, starting with a phone call.
“I spoke to him at around 9pm. I told him to pass by the supermarket and buy a few things,” she said.
But that would be the last conversation before he sent her a text message minutes past midnight informing her that he would be on his way.
Last text
“Leaving now,” read the text sent to Eva who was expecting him home at around 1am.
She reminded him in another message shortly afterwards not to ring the doorbell but rather call the nanny when he got home.
But the response she got was startling owing to the uncommon language, which she now suspects may have been typed by someone else.
She fears that Msando may already have been taken hostage at the nightclub where he is reported to have been sharing a drink with the two friends.
It was not until Monday morning that her family was informed that Msando’s body had been found at the City Mortuary, after a frantic search the whole weekend.
Records at the morgue however showed the two bodies were brought in on Saturday morning, minutes apart, starting with Carol’s at 10.30.
deep cuts
A rope used to strangle her was still dangling from her neck. Msando’s body was discovered further down the same dirt road into the forest, with deep cuts on his hands and head.
Questions abound how the body of Msando, a high-ranking public officer, could lie unidentified for days.
KTN News was also told that Carol had been introduced to Msando as a graduate seeking an internship placement just three months earlier, possibly as a snare in a much wider plot.
Inconsistencies in the police version of events leading to the gruesome killing is a major pointer to why the murder has not been resolved, more than four months after it happened.
