A court in Eldoret has granted a plea to prolong the detention of five suspects linked to the gruesome murder of fashion designer and LGBTQ+ activist Edwin Chiloba as more investigations ensue.
The quintet including three minors will be detained for 21 more days.
This comes as more information emerges about the brutal nature of the suspected New Year's eve killings which set off a wave of mixed reactions on social media.
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Chiloba was found murdered and his body was stashed in a metallic box along the Kipenyo-Kaptinga road in Kapseret on Wednesday, January 4, 2023.
Preliminary investigations indicate that the metal box was dropped in the area by a vehicle whose registration number was concealed.
In an update, police indicate that Chiloba had his eyes gouged out and possibly died from strangulation.
“Apart from the eyes being gouged out, there were no physical injuries on the body, suggesting that the victim might have died out of choking,” Peter Kimulwa, Uasin Gishu County Directorate of Criminal Investigations officer, said.
Police and the family await post-mortem results to establish the actual cause of Chiloba's death on New Year’s Eve.
24-year-old Nairobi -based freelance photographer Jackton Odhiambo confessed to killing his lover Chiloba shortly after he was arrested. He is being held at Langas police station in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County.
Odhiambo confessed to the police that he was driven to commit the murder after finding out that Chiloba had another partner.
He is suspected to have had the help of his two other friends in the murder, before stashing the body in a metallic box and later dumping the decomposing body along Kapsaret-Kipkenyo road.
Police arrested three more suspects involved in Chiloba's brutal murder. The three were arrested for carrying the metal box used to dispose of the body of the deceased.
Police spokeswoman Resla Onyango said the suspects were under 18 years of age. She also confirmed that detectives had recovered the car used in dumping the body of the deceased.
The prosecution sought more days saying the suspects arrested are flight risks and their lives would be endangered since the case is of public interest.
The case is set to be heard on January 31.
Meanwhile, Caustencia Tanui, a cousin to the deceased, told a local publisher that plans to lay to rest their kin on January 14, 2022, at Sergoit, Moiben have started as they await post-mortem results.
