Thu | Sep 25, 2025

Man wanted in Massachusetts for murder rearrested in Kenya after a week-long escape

Published:Wednesday | February 14, 2024 | 11:29 AM
Kevin Adam Kinyanjui Kangethe appears at the Mililani law court in Nairobi, Kenya, on January 31, 2024. The Nairobi police chief said early Thursday, February 8, 2024, that Kangethe, a murder suspect who was awaiting extradition to the United States, had slipped out of a police station cell and jumped into one of the privately owned minivans that are the main transportation source in Kenya. (AP Photo)

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A man wanted in Massachusetts to face murder charges was has been rearrested, a week after he dramatically escaped from police custody, Kenyan police said Wednesday.

Kevin Adam Kinyanjui Kangethe escaped while awaiting extradition on a Massachusetts warrant alleging he killed his girlfriend and left her body in a car at a Boston airport. Last week he slipped out of a police station and jumped into a privately owned minivan.

Kangethe was arrested in Embulbul, Kajiado County on the outskirts of Kenya's capital city on Tuesday evening as he sought refuge at one of his relatives' homes, Nairobi police boss Adamson Bungei said.

“We have rearrested him and we thank all that helped in this,” he said.

In a country where corruption endemic and the police force has been ranked for decades the most corrupt institution in the country, Kangethe's escape raised suspicion the police officers on duty that day may have been bribed to allow his escape.

The four officers who were on duty at the report office that day have been suspended awaiting disciplinary action and may face prosecution.

The officer's report seen by the Associated Press said that on the day Kangethe escaped, a man named John Maina Ndegwa introduced himself to the officers as Kangethe's lawyer and said he wanted to speak with his client.

“The officers agreed to his request and removed the prisoner from the cells and took him to (an) office ... leaving them there. After a short while the prisoner escaped by running away and left the (lawyer) behind,” the report said.

Officers pursued Kangethe but did not catch him, the police report said, adding that Ndegwa was arrested.

Kangethe, 40, had been detained pending a ruling on whether he should be extradited to face a first-degree murder charge in connection with the death of Margaret Mbitu on October 31, 2023.

Massachusetts State Police said in early November that Kangethe had left her body in a car at Logan International Airport and boarded a flight to Kenya.

Massachusetts officials said they were working with Kenyan authorities to locate him, and he was arrested in a nightclub on January 30 after being on the run for three months.

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