The murder of first-year university student Rita Waeni in January this year remains unsolved as the prime suspect is yet to be arrested.
Speaking on TV47’s Crimes Untold expose, Rita’s parents revealed there were red flags that their daughter appeared to ignore regarding the suspected murderer.
Rita Waeni’s mother recalled the last conversation they had on the last day she was seen alive. This was hours before her meetup with the suspect.
“The person was called Carlton Maina but I did not know which platform they were communicating on. Her aunt notified me around 3pm that Rita had left the house and I called her.
“We talked and she told me there was a friend who was leaving the country. They were going to have an early dinner at TRM Mall. From there we never talked again,” she narrated.
CCTV footage from their Syokimau home showed Rita Waeni leaving at around 3:30pm donning a white trouser, black boots, blue jacket, and small black bag.
On that day, Rita and her mother had a heart-to-heart conversation, where they talked about Carlton.
“On that fateful day, I even asked her when I would get to know this Carlton. She was so precise to tell me ‘mum eventually you will come to know this person’. There was nothing much happening between them so there was a need for her to introduce the person to me.”
Glaring Red Flags
Rita Waeni’s mother, however, disclosed that there were some red flags in their emerging telephone conversations, that her daughter seemingly ignored.
“My daughter was saying ‘matatu inaenda polepole’ and he replied, ‘msichana, unacheza na mimi’. She also said ‘it is raining maybe we should not meet’ he responded saying ‘it will stop raining’,” the distraught mother added.
Perhaps sensing danger, Rita Waeni’s last message to her suspected killer read, “You sound suspicious.”
Upon Rita’s arrival, the man instructed her to wait for him at the Roysambu stage, stating he was coming from Thome. And that only he, was to pick her up.
CCTV footage along TRM drive captured Waeni and her suspected killer walking together, perhaps to the short-stay apartment booked by the man donning a white cap and sunglasses.
The late student’s mother noted that based on their conversations, the suspect did not express any intimacy interests with her, but it appears that Rita had already trusted him.
Rita’s dismembered body was discovered the next day. Her missing head was later discovered at a Kiambaa dam.
Government pathologist Dr. Johansen Oduor who said he had never seen anything like the murder, revealed Rita Waeni was murdered through strangulation just before midnight, before her body was dismembered.
By Vivian K.