Killer police web: Inside the deadly squad linked to Mbobu and Mutiso killings

When lawyer Mathew Kyalo Mbobu was assassinated, the story of his debts and dalliance with informal lenders took the mainstream media and social media by storm. Fingers were pointed, accusations made, and denials made. The police sought to find out whether the cold-blooded killing was related to what he owed his debtors.

All leads seemed dead until another assassination was committed. This time it was Dr Veronica Mutiso, and she was killed in a similar manner as the lawyer. Before she was even buried, the chips fell in place.

One after another, suspects were arrested and arraigned; a pattern was formed and a web established. There could be a link between the two city murders.

The latest arrests and arraignment seem to fit in the jigsaw puzzle according to the investigators.

Two serving police officers and two boda boda riders are behind bars over the assassination of lawyer Mathew Kyalo Mbobu as detectives now say the killing is one strand of a wider web allegedly spun by a fugitive police inspector and a woman investigators call its architect.

Police claim at the heart of the web is Rose Mbithe whom they say had an axe to grind with her ex husband and his wife. She is also said to have had a bitter past with the lawyer.

Inspector Kenneth Kipkemboi Sang, who remains at large, is the common thread the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) says binds Mbobu's murder to the July 29, 2026 killing of clinical psychologist Dr Mutiso.

Two assassinations, eleven months apart, both allegedly rooted in the same Sh1.5 billion Mlolongo, Athi River, land dispute.

In court filings yesterday, the DCI revealed that Sang coordinated the operation to eliminate Mbobu in liaison with Rose Mbithe, who is currently detained at Lang’ata Women’s Prison over the murder of her ex-husband’s second wife, Dr Mutiso, and was allegedly the financier of the operation.

What began as separate investigations into the cold-blooded killings of Mbobu and Dr Mutiso has now opened into a web of alleged police involvement, surveillance, hitmen, motorcycle riders and a bitter property dispute.

At the centre of the emerging nexus is Inspector Sang whom detectives told Milimani Chief Magistrate Githu Kibiru was in contact with suspects involved in both operations.

Four suspects arrested over Mbobu's killing are police officers Julius Cheruiyot and Kennedy Kipkemei and boda boda riders Nicholas Naula Lemiso and Noah Kipkurui Langat who were ordered detained for another 15 days as detectives pursue the wider network into the killings.

Inspector Patrick Wachira, the lead investigator from the DCI Homicide Investigations Bureau, revealed in court that Sang, who is still on the run, was allegedly in direct contact with the four suspects as the murder was plotted.

"He held meetings with Cheruiyot, Langat and a person identified in the application as an alleged financier, Rose Mbithe," the DCI's application filed in court on Friday states.

The same inspector allegedly coordinated the Mutiso murder, with detectives saying Chris Mulwa, Mbithe's son and a practising advocate already in custody over the killing, was in constant communication with Sang in the run-up to the murder.

Suspects in the murder case of the late Dr Victoria Mutiso arraigned before principal magistrate Paul Mutai at Milimani law courts, Nairobi on September 10, 2026. [David Gichuru,Standard]

The court heard that the two alleged operations were not spontaneous attacks but carefully planned missions involving surveillance, coordination and transport, with serving police officers from Pangani and Kikuyu police stations allegedly pulling the triggers in the two murders.

According to applications filed before the court during the DCI investigations, each suspect named in the two murders played a specific role in the alleged operations coordinated by Sang and Mbithe.

In Mbobu's murder, the court heard that Police Constable Cheruiyot, attached to Pangani Police Station, allegedly pulled the trigger.

Investigating officer Patrick Wachira told the court that the fatal weapon, a Ceska pistol, serial number CZ85B, had been officially issued to Cheruiyot and was ballistically matched to cartridges recovered from Mbobu's body and his Toyota Land Cruiser.

“Your honour, this investigation has established that the officer Cheruiyot is the one who fatally shot the victim,” he said.

Boda boda rider Lemiso is said to have ferried Cheruiyot to and from the Magadi Road scene near Brookhouse International School on September 9, 2025.

A second rider, Langat, allegedly trailed Mbobu's white Toyota Land Cruiser registration number KCA 177W from his office.

Officer Kipkemei was allegedly involved in the planning of the operation, coordinating with his colleague Cheruiyot.

Prosecutors painted the killing as a professional hit, telling the court that the suspects were allegedly part of a sophisticated operation.

“Your honour, the suspects we are dealing with here are not the common thieves and smugglers. This is part of a sophisticated gang, highly trained sleuths, who unfortunately have gone rogue,” the prosecutor said.

"The planning process... was quite properly coordinated. Second, the meticulous execution of the said plan with bravado and in broad daylight something I would consider... a commander style. Thirdly, is the concealment of the offence, that has taken DCI officers slightly over a year to apprehend and arraign the suspects," the prosecutor told Chief Magistrate Githu.

The State warned that releasing the suspects could expose witnesses and other people to danger because several suspects remain at large.

“Your honour, releasing these individuals might lead to further deaths, given that there are others who are still at large,” the prosecutor said.

On Mutiso's murder on July 29 in Upper Hill, the court heard that several suspects were allegedly involved, including Sang, Mbithe and her two children, advocates Chris and Angela Mulwa.

Police Constable Elijah Kibelion Kimoi, who was attached to Karinde Police Post under Kikuyu Police Station, is alleged to have fired the fatal shots.

Investigators say Daniel Mwangi Njoroge drove a Prado that blocked the vehicle carrying Mutiso, while boda boda rider Kevin Ngugi Kinuthia allegedly ferried Kimoi to and from the scene.

Other suspects in the Mutiso investigation include police officer Collins Bett Kiplangat, Pius Muiru Mbugua and Samuel Karanja Gathoni, who were arrested in Uganda and later returned to Kenya.

At the centre of both cases, detectives say, sits Rose Mbithe Mulwa, Prof David Musyimi Ndetei's former wife, who is already in custody over Mutiso's murder and has now been named by the DCI as the alleged financier of Mbobu's killing.

Suspects in the murder case of the late Dr Victoria Mutiso arraigned before principal magistrate Paul Mutai at Milimani law courts, Nairobi on September 10, 2026. [David Gichuru,Standard]

Mbobu had represented Ndetei against Mbithe in a two-decade-old divorce and matrimonial property battle that hardened into a defamation suit Mbithe lost in 2005.

Mutiso, who later married Ndetei, inherited the same dispute and, investigators say, the same fate as the lawyer who fought it in court.

Court filings in the Mutiso case reveal that the alleged hit squad was paid a Sh300,000 down payment on April 24, 2026, for an earlier attempt to kill Mutiso. The alleged attempt failed.

Angela, Mbithe's daughter and Dr Mutiso's stepdaughter, was allegedly present when the money changed hands.

“She was present on April 24, 2026, during the payment of the Sh300,000 down payment for the deceased to be murdered, which failed to materialise,” the DCI stated in court papers.

The DCI also alleged that Angela remained in constant communication with Sang, whose firearm was allegedly linked to the Mutiso operation.

Mbithe, her son Mulwa, daughter Angela Mulwa, businessman Kimutai Maritim and Police Constable Kibelion and other suspects different from the four held over Mbobu's death are already in custody after the DPP approved murder charges over Dr Mutiso's killing.

The five are due before Justice Alexander Muteti on Tuesday, September 29, for plea-taking. 

Meanwhile, Cheruiyot, Kipkemei, Lemiso and Langat who denied yesterday the state allegations of linking them to lawyer Mbobu killing will remain in custody until October 9,2026.

They are held at Gigiri, Parklands, Kibera and Muthangari police stations respectively.

Sang remains the country's most wanted police officer, with detectives saying his capture is the missing link that could finally tie the two assassinations, and the billion-shilling land war behind them, together in one case file.