DCI detectives reconstruct Standard Editor's abduction scene days later

DCI officers at the scene where Standard Associate Editor Alex Kiprotich was abandoned in Kiangeni, Ekalakala Village near Masinga Dam, Machakos County on September 5, 2026. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

Detectives have intensified investigations into the abduction of Standard Group Associate Editor Alex Kiprotich, visiting the remote Ekalakala location, Kiangeni village, near Masinga Dam in Machakos County, where he was dumped after being held captive for hours.

Officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations' Forensic Investigations Department spent hours on Saturday reconstructing the scene and examining the surroundings for possible forensic evidence that could help establish what happened during the final moments of Kiprotich’s ordeal. 

They also interviewed the family from which Kiprotich sought refuge after he was dumped at around 2.30 am, September 2, 2026.

The painstaking exercise, however, came more than 72 hours after the senior editor was abducted, raising questions from his lawyer and colleagues about the pace and commitment of the investigation.

The Group's lawyer, Gordon Ogola, decried that the delay had deepened the family’s concerns about whether the investigation would lead to the arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators.

“The wheels of justice are grinding very slowly,” Ogola said.

He said investigators already had crucial leads, including the vehicle allegedly used in the abduction, its registration number and footage showing the suspected abductors.

“The motor vehicle which was used in the abduction is known. We know the registration number,” he said, adding that the officers involved could be identified by the footage from Kiprotich's car dashboard camera.

Ogola questioned why investigators had taken so long to visit the scene.

“The mere fact that we had to push them more than 72 hours to come to the scene is evidence enough that they were not really willing,” he said.

The forensic team’s reconstruction involved examining the point where Kiprotich was allegedly dropped, studying the surrounding terrain and retracing movements at the scene.

Investigators were also expected to establish whether physical traces left behind could corroborate Kiprotich’s account and provide leads on the identity and movements of his abductors.

Standard Group Chief Security Officer Tom Kipyegon said the delay posed challenges to the integrity of the reconstruction, particularly because weather and human activity may have altered or destroyed crucial evidence.

“Some things are missing at the scene so many hours later because of the weather elements,” he said, warning that this could affect the accuracy of the reconstruction.

He also raised questions over CCTV footage from cameras around the scene of the abduction in Gilgil, saying the recordings could provide crucial evidence to corroborate the abduction.

“We have not seen anything happening around the release of that footage, by the Kenya National Highway Authority,” he said, calling for its release to investigators.

The security chief further questioned why the abductors appeared to know the remote route leading towards Masinga Dam, despite allegedly travelling there in the dead of night.

“How do they know this route?” he asked, alleging the possibility that the area could have been used previously to dump other victims of abductions.

“Could they be in this dam? That is a question we want to ask,” he added.

Kiprotich was abducted on September 1, 2026, at Gilgil Weighbridge along the Nairobi—Nakuru highway by armed men believed to be police officers.

He was held for hours before being driven to the remote area near Masinga Dam, where he was abandoned in the wee hours of Tuesday night.

Ogola urged the authorities to move swiftly, saying Kenyans were watching how the case would be handled.

“This thing of abduction, when the President was sworn in he promised the country that under his watch nothing like this will happen,” he said.

Lawyer Sandra Nyambok echoes the sentiments, urging the authorities to take the matter of abduction seriously.

"Matters abduction have taken so much time in terms of investigations and this is not an exception," she said.