Family demands justice for woman found dead in guesthouse

Lilian Atieno, 24-year-old woman who was found dead in a lodge in Rodi Kopany Township after meeting a man suspected to be her boyfriend on July 1, 2024. [James Omoro, Standard]

A family in Homa Bay county is seeking justice for their 24-year-old daughter who was murdered in a suspected love triangle.

Lilian Atieno was found dead in a guesthouse in Rodi Kopany Township after meeting a man suspected to be her boyfriend on July 1, 2024.

Atieno’s uncle, Peter Otieno, said her body which did not have visible injuries was discovered in a room in the morning.

However, the man suspected to have murdered her had fled.

“My niece’s body was discovered by the guest house workers who wanted to clean the room. The body lay in a bed,” Otieno said.

Otieno spoke to the guesthouse management, who said Atieno spent the night with a man who booked the room.

On the evening of June 31, the man reportedly booked the room and left before returning later to meet Atieno.

“They said the man returned and found Atieno in the compound before they entered the room together,” Otieno said.

He said the suspect used to call her niece several times, making them suspect he was her boyfriend.

Otieno claimed that the man sent Atieno fare to travel from her workplace in Sori town, Migori county, to the guesthouse. The deceased used to work for a solar company in Sori.

Otieno said the postmortem report revealed that she died of poisoning.

Atieno's family accused police of taking too long to arrest the suspect and failing to update them about the investigation into the matter.

“We are not getting sufficient information from police on how far they are going on with pursuing the man who killed our daughter. We appeal to them to speed up and provide us with information to enable justice to prevail,” Otieno said.

Homa Bay sub-county Directorate of Criminal Investigations Officer Charles Koilenge said they were following crucial leads to enable them to apprehend the suspect.

“Our investigations are going on, and we are following some leads to enable us to get the suspect,” Koilenge said.