Detectives arrest man alleged to be serial robber, rapist over Jennifer Wambua’s murder

Jennifer Wambua went missing on March 12, 2021, only to be found dead on March 15. [File, Standard]

The DCI detectives have arrested a key suspect in the murder of National Lands Commission (NLC) deputy director of communication, Jennifer Wambua.

Wambua went missing from Ardhi House on March 12, only to be found dead, and her body dumped in Ngong Forest on March 15.

Peter Mwangi Njenga, alias Ole Sankale, was arrested after several weeks of investigations and forensic analysis, the DCI said.

The probe took a concerted effort by the DCI detectives, Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB) officers, Cybercrime detectives and the Special Service Unit (SSU) officers.

“The agencies have finally made a major breakthrough in nailing the main suspect involved in the gruesome murder of Jennifer Wambua,” the DCI said on Facebook on Friday night, May 7.

The agency says Njenga committed the act with others, who are yet to be found.

“The detectives, through criminal intelligence, first forensically placed the suspect at the scene of crime,” the DCI said.

The investigative body says eye-witnesses also saw Njenga with Wambua on March 12 before she went missing, only to be found dead three days later.

“By conducting a thorough combing of the scene, detectives managed to pick crucial exhibits,” said the DCI.

“The forensic results, which are out, positively match the suspect,” said the DCI.

Authorities say Njenga “indeed interacted and spent quite some time with Wambua at the location where her body was later discovered (Ngong Forest)”.

Wambua had been raped, a postmortem report indicated.

Police say the location, Ngong Forest, is “often visited by pilgrims for spiritual intentions”.

“Detectives established that the suspect preyed on [the] deceased as she prayed, before he made his move to sexually assault her and strangle her to death,” said the DCI.

Peter Mwangi Njenga, according to the investigative agency, had a criminal past.

“Our criminal data system confirmed the suspect had committed similar offences using the same modus operandi of committing robbery and thereafter repeatedly, sexually abusing the victims by raping and killing them,” stated the DCI.

“Both the principal criminal registrar records and prisons where the suspect served jail concurred.”

The DCI said Njenga committed other similar offences at the same site on separate occasions in the past.

“In 1996, he was charged with stealing and was further charged three times with the offences of robbery with violence and rape. In January 15, 2003, he was convicted and sentenced to death at Kibera Senior Resident’s Magistrate Court,” said the DCI.

“How he won his freedom remains a mystery, which the [DCI] detectives are currently engaged in demystifying.”