Mlolongo hairdresser Jane Mwende Mwanzia was brutally murdered before her body was dumped in a pit latrine – a postmortem report has confirmed.
The decomposing body was discovered in a pit latrine on September 12, 2023, after she went missing for two weeks.
A postmortem report has now revealed the chilling details of how 29-year-old Mwende met her death.
The autopsy report said that the hairdresser was strangled to death.
The report shows that Mwende died from asphyxiation, caused by manual neck compression.
Pathologist Dr Michieka Michieka said there was a clear indication Mwende died out of lack of oxygen due to strangulation.
Police said they are making good progress in the case.
The post-mortem conducted at Montezuma Monalisa Mortuary in Machakos on Thursday evening.
A family spokesman John Mutuku said pathologists told them Mwende was strangled using a piece of clothing.
“The killers used a piece of cloth to compress her neck to death,” he said.
Two suspects were Wednesday detained by a court in Mavoko for 10 days to enable police to conduct their probe.
Mavoko Law Courts Senior Principal Magistrate Barbra Ojoo allowed the State to continue holding Evelyn Wanza Katumbu and Faith Nthemba Kyalo as investigations continue.
Police received information that Mwende may have vanished as a result of a love triangle, which they are now investigating.
A prominent land dealer has been mentioned in the matter, police said.
Mwende is said to have received a phone call on August 25, from a person posing as a client in need of her hairdressing services at their home.
She left, never to return, police said.
She also failed to pick up her child from her Yatta home in Machakos after the August holidays.
Family, friends and colleagues of Mwende had been frantically searching for her since she disappeared.
They said they had been to police stations, hospitals, and even morgues without success.
Police are looking for two more suspects in the murder.
