Police have arrested Kennedy Kalombotole, the main suspect behind the shocking murders of two patients at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).
His arrest follows the latest murder of Edward Maingi Ndegwa, who was found dead, with his throat slit, inside his hospital ward on July 17, 2025. Kalombotole is also linked to a second murder that happened earlier this year in the same hospital.
Edward had been admitted to male Ward 7B, Group C on July 11.
According to the hospital, his condition was stable. On the morning of July 17, a nurse checked his blood pressure at 11:30 a.m.
And a family member visited him around 12:30 p.m., saying he was alert and doing fine. The relative left at around 1:30 p.m.
Just half an hour later, at about 2:00 p.m., a cleaner passing by the corridor noticed blood around Edward’s neck. They raised the alarm, and hospital staff called the police immediately.
How was KNH Double Murder Suspect Caught?
When detectives arrived, they found a trail of bloody slipper prints leading from Edward’s bed to the toilet and then to a side room nearby.
Inside that room, they found a pair of blue slippers and a blood-stained bedsheet.
Kalombotole, who had been admitted to the hospital since December 1, 2024, was recovering in that same room.
Outside the hospital, directly below the seventh-floor window near Edward’s ward, police found a knife wrapped in gloves. It’s believed to be the murder weapon. All the items collected were sent to the National Forensic Laboratory for testing.
But this wasn’t the first time something like this happened, in this year alone.
The First Murder
Police say Kalombotole is also the prime suspect in the killing of Gilbert Kinyua Muthoni, the 40-year-old patient who was found dead in Ward 7C between February 6 and 7, 2025. Like Edward, Gilbert had also been admitted as a patient and died under mysterious circumstances.
Back then, police had prepared a case file and sent it to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP). But the ODPP asked for further investigations to make the case stronger before it could go to trial.
Kalombotole is now in police custody and being processed. He is expected to be taken to court soon.
By Vivian K.