Missing female teacher's body found in river

The late Martina Chepkemoi Ruto, a 40-year-old Swahili teacher at Lalagin Secondary School in Bureti constituency. [Courtesy]

The search for a 40-year-old teacher who went missing two weeks ago has ended in tragedy after her body was recovered from the Kimugu River on the outskirts of Kericho town.

Martina Chepkemoi Ruto, a Swahili teacher at Lalagin Secondary School in Bureti Constituency, was found floating in the river, with preliminary examinations indicating injuries to her chest.

Relatives said the body had five stab wounds on the chest. There were also reports that Chepkemoi could have been sexually assaulted before she was killed.

Kericho East Directorate of Criminal Investigations Officer Kennedy Apindi confirmed that the body of the deceased teacher had been recovered from the river and police suspected foul play.

“My officers confirmed and saw the body of a female adult floating on the river,” Apindi said, adding that further examination revealed injuries to the deceased’s chest.

“It is suspected that the female teacher was murdered. The scene was located and photographed, and the body was removed to Kericho County Hospital mortuary for preservation and eventual investigations,” he said.

Before her disappearance, Chepkemoi had reportedly sought a transfer from Lalagin Secondary School. She had also told people close to her that she was experiencing difficulties in her marriage.

The circumstances surrounding her disappearance remained unclear, with detectives expected to establish where she was before her body was discovered and who was responsible for her death.

 Fellow teachers, led by Kenya Union of Post-Primary Teachers (Kuppet) officials, asked police to investigate the case and bring the killers to book.

The union’s branch executive, Clara Chebet, and the chairman, Johna Korir, want investigators to move with speed and establish the killer, why she was killed and how her body ended up in the river.

Chepkemoi, a 40-year-old Swahili teacher at Lalagin Secondary School in Bureti constituency, was also a mother of four children.

The union officials said the circumstances surrounding her death were too serious to allow investigations to drag on, demanding that detectives provide preliminary answers within 24 to 48 hours.

“We are calling upon the investigation officers to give us the answers immediately because this is a very important time for us. This is the time we were ready to prepare the students to sit for national examinations. But now we are very sad,” Chebet said.

“This is a teacher who was taking a Form class. We are giving the investigation officers not more than 48 hours, if not 24 hours, to give us the reasons that prompted the murder of our teacher.”

Korir questioned how the teacher met her death, pointing to the injuries found on her body as evidence of a violent attack.

“The nature of the stab wounds, with one to the chest, means that the attacker did not want to leave her alive,” he said.

Chepkemoi’s body was recovered from the Kimugu River on the outskirts of Kericho town, about two weeks after she was reported missing.

It was taken to the Kericho County Hospital mortuary, where detectives established that she had five stab wounds on her chest.