A portrait of Samwel Mwangi, the taxi driver who was found murdered in Machakos County and his car stolen.
Samuel Njoroge Mwangi had breakfast with his family on Sunday, May 4, 2025, as was routine, except that this day would later turn out anything but ordinary.
For the 37-year-old taxi driver based in Maai Mahiu, his vehicle was grounded, in disrepair. And being a Sunday, he hoped to just while away time at home with his family.
His wife of 10 years, Jane Wambui, recalls her husband staying at home for the better part of the day with their two children.
Ms Wambui says she returned home from church at 2 pm. Mwangi informed her that he had managed to repair the vehicle.
In the evening, he excused himself to go see his friends in Maai Mahiu town.
Jane Wambui holds a portrait of her late husband Samwel Mwangi at their home in Maai Mahiu, Naivasha in Nakuru County on May 15, 2025.
He returned home around 6 pm in a hurry, picked up his car's key and informed her that he had been hired to ferry a patient to the hospital.
"That was the last time l saw or heard from him," recalls Ms Wambui.
Later that night, Mwangi had not returned home, and his phone was switched off. Around 11 pm, Ms Wambui tried to call her husband again, but his phone was still off. She called again at 2 am, but still it was off. That is when she knew something was amiss.
“But l kept hope alive that he would return the following morning. But the next time l saw him, he was dead,” narrates a teary Wambui.
Her husband’s body was discovered over 100 kilometres away in a thicket in Machakos County the following day.
Jane Wambui is overwhelmed by emotions as she narrates her last moments with her late husband, Samwel Mwangi, at their home in Maai Mahiu, Nakuru County on May 15, 2025.
The family was, however, only informed about his death a week later.
Ms Wambui says that for the past three years, he has been working as a taxi operator he would find time to check up on his family despite his busy schedule. And he never switched off his phone.
“He did not go to work the day he went missing, he spent was with our kids. When he came for the keys, he did not disclose the person he was supposed to take to the hospital or the hospital they were going to. I did not read much into it since that was his work. That night, I did not sleep. I tried calling and sending text messages, but they went unanswered," she recalls.
In the morning, she tried inquiring about his whereabouts from his friends, but no one seemed to know. She filed a missing person report at the Maimahiu police station on Tuesday, May 6.
Unknown to the family, Mwangi’s lifeless body was lying at Machakos Level Five hospital mortuary after residents discovered it on May 5 in a thicket in Kalama Sub County along Katumani-Konza-Mombasa highway.
Family members view a portrait of Samwel Mwangi at their home in Maai Mahiu, Naivasha in Nakuru County on May 15, 2025.
Police picked up the body and moved it to the mortuary, where it was registered as unidentified. Later, they identified it through fingerprints and informed the chief of Makutano in Koibatek, Baringo County, where Mwangi hailed from.
The chief instructed the family to travel to Machakos on May 13 to identify the body.
"I was not ready for what I saw that day. My father-in-law did not inform me that his body had been found. At the morgue, he still had the clothes he was wearing the day he left. His body was in bad shape," she says.
According to Ms Wambui, the killers stole his vehicle, mobile phone and his documents.
“I want justice for my husband’s brutal murder. He never disclosed if his life was in danger. He was a kind person. He was the breadwinner for our family. He really wanted to expand his business, he had told me that he would sell the taxi and purchase a lorry," she adds.
Esther Wanjiru (left), with her niece Jane Wambui, whose husband, Samwel Mwangi, was murdered by unknown people.
Ms Wambui’s aunt, Ms Esther Wanjiru, said that a postmortem examination revealed that he died of severe head injury.
The pathologist noted that Mwangi was hit on the head with a blunt object three times. His hands also had injuries.
Mwangi's body is yet to be transferred from Machakos.
“They could have just demanded a ransom instead of killing him. He has left a young family behind; his wife is sickly and she cannot work. We call on well-wishers to help us ferry the body from Machakos for burial in Eldama Ravine. Our prayers are that the killers will never find peace. They robbed us of a family pillar, his children will grow without a father, and his wife is now a widow," says Ms Wanjiru.
On Wednesday Machakos County Criminal Investigations Officer, Benedict Kigen, said the body was first spotted by locals and later retrieved by police who did not find identification documents on it.
He said that the fingerprints were taken to the National Registration Bureau for identification, and on May 13, the results were out, and the process of tracing the family began.
