Why some are lost and never found

Since losing his brother on January 18, Eric Musili and family are yet to find out him. Isaac Musili, whose story was carried in this section, went missing after leaving school to visit a family member in Huruma, Nairobi.

It is reported that the last conversation he had with his roommate and friend, on a Sunday evening, indicated that he had been out drinking. His case was reported on January 27, but so far, there has been no sign of him.

There are many families that have waited years to find out what happened to a family member. It is very possible that their bodies may have been disposed off as public procedure call for.

For example, in 2012, the Public Health Department in Naivasha issued a 21-day notice to bury 35 unclaimed bodies lying at the Naivasha District Hospital mortuary. “The hospital hereby issues a 21-day notice for the bodies to be claimed failure to which they will be buried in a mass grave at the municipal cemetery,” read part of the notice.

Samuel King’ori, the district public health officer, decried the sad situation that many relatives were abandoning their kin in the hospital after death. But could it be possible that accident victims, brought to hospital by good Samaritans, probably picked from roadsides, may die and no relative knows what happened to them?

On May 25, Machakos residents woke to find 15 bodies strewn along Machakos-Wote highway.

The corpses were among 26 unclaimed bodies that had been preserved at the Machakos Level Five Hospital morgue since late last year and were being ferried to Mitheu Public Cemetery for burial.

The truck driver transporting the bodies had dropped them accidentally, proceeding with his journey unaware he had left some of his cargo behind.

Last September, Public health officers in Kisii disposed off 15 bodies which had gone unclaimed at the Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital morgue. According to Kisii County Public Health Officer Mellitus Kabare, the exercise was necessary.

Mortuaries can bury unclaimed bodies after six months. As a matter of procedure, a 21-day notice is issued for members of the public to pick bodies of loved ones who are yet to be accounted for. Bodies would be then buried at a public grave yard when the period lapses.

According to an officer at the Athi River Police Station who asked not to be identified, often when the police are called to pick bodies in public places, rarely is the individual known to those who discover the body. “Like in the case of night time hit and run, the body would be discovered in the morning. The only thing that may offer leads to the family is an ID. Often, their phones and valuable stuff are stolen by passersby," he said/

"It becomes difficult to locate the family of the deceased if the details in the ID indicate a rural area and the body has been collected in Nairobi,” he said, adding that other times, decomposed bodies are discovered in bushes or at remote rocky patches in what is indicative of premeditated murder - with only the perpetrators knowing the victim.