Kelvin Kangethe, aged 41, who fled the United States after allegedly murdering his girlfriend, has managed to escape from a police station in Kenya.
Kangethe was apprehended last week as he left a club in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, following an extensive manhunt by both Kenyan and US authorities.
Despite a court order allowing his detention for 30 days pending possible extradition, Kangethe has vanished.
Authorities claim that Kangethe killed his girlfriend last October and left her body in a car at Boston Logan International Airport before boarding a flight to Kenya, his country of origin.
As of now, Kangethe has not provided any statement regarding the allegations against him.
In a shocking turn of events, Kenyan police revealed that Kangethe escaped from the Nairobi police station where he was being held on Wednesday evening and boarded public transportation.
Following this security breach, four police officers and a lawyer who met with Kangethe before his escape have been arrested, according to Nairobi police commander Adamson Bungei.
The incident has been deemed “embarrassing” for Kenyan police, prompting a renewed effort to locate Kangethe.
The family of Kangethe’s girlfriend, Margaret Mbitu, informed US media that she had intended to end their relationship before her alleged murder. Mbitu, a 30-year-old Kenyan-American nurse working in Massachusetts, was last seen leaving her workplace on October 30th last year.
Her disappearance was reported on the same day, and her body was discovered two days later. Authorities suspect Kangethe fled the US during the period between Mbitu’s disappearance and the discovery of her body.
Security footage captured Kangethe leaving the airport parking lot where Mbitu’s body was found, further linking him to the crime. He departed on a flight the morning after Mbitu went missing.
A Kenyan court was scheduled to decide on Friday whether Kangethe would be prosecuted in Kenya or extradited to the US to face first-degree murder charges. Kangethe claimed to have renounced his US citizenship last year.