Tragic Mystery: Young Secretary Found Dead at Catholic Church
Josephine Karimi, who had just begun working as a secretary for a Catholic Church association, vanished on June 28 under mysterious circumstances.
Five days later, the 24-year-old’s body was discovered in an abandoned pit latrine at the St. Mary’s Catholic Women Association (CWA) Centre in Kiaragana, Embu County, where she had worked for seven days.
The brutal murder has shocked her family and the entire Kivwe village, from which she originated.
When Karimi did not return home on Wednesday, June 28, her family called her mobile phone on Thursday, but it was off.
Moments later, a Catholic priest informed them that Karimi was not at the center and that nobody knew where she was.
“Before Karimi went missing, she had lunch with her mother and went back to work on Wednesday,” her father, Simon Kivuti Gatumu, told GossipA2Z on Monday.
The next day, however, when we called to check on her, her phone was not working and we sensed that something was amiss. Then, a priest informed us that Kirimi had not reported for work on Thursday. I rushed to the center and discovered that my daughter was not in her locked office.
The family searched everywhere for their missing daughter, but to no avail. Even after announcing her disappearance in numerous churches and on social media, no one came forward with information about her whereabouts.
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Mr. Gatumo, an employee of the Kenya National Library Services in Embu, reported the incident to the Runyenjes Police Station on Saturday and made a statement.
Mr. Gatumo was instructed to return home by detectives who promised to investigate the incident. On 3 July, the librarian returned to the Runyenjes Police Station, where the detectives asked him to accompany them to the Catholic Centre, to which he consented.
On their arrival, the detectives questioned for hours a casual laborer who is also a church employee.
The laborer, whose job is to clear bushes and perform other menial tasks at the center, disclosed that he knew where Karimi was and that she was safe during the interrogation.
Mr. Gatumo recalled, “The casual laborer told the detectives that Karimi was fine, but unfortunately she was not.”
The laborer led the detectives to the pit latrine, where they discovered the woman’s lifeless body. They took the laborer to the police station for further questioning.
Anthony Maina, the head of the Embu East sub-county police station, stated that the laborer from Vihiga County was being treated as a prime suspect in the gruesome murder and would be charged with the crime once investigations were concluded.
“The suspect is an employee of the center, and he must face justice,” he said, adding that the death was being investigated as a murder.
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“We have determined that the woman was murdered and discarded there, possibly to conceal evidence.” He stated that the deceased’s body had been recovered and transported to the morgue for an autopsy, and he urged the family to have patience, promising that justice would be served.
Mr. Gatumo bemoaned the fact that his daughter was working alone in an isolated location without protection.
My daughter was working alone in that office, with no security personnel present. My daughter would not have been murdered if there had been guards or more employees at the facility. “We are still processing the death of our daughter,” he said.
He asserted that a woman could not work alone in the facility and urged the church to consider increasing security.
When GossipA2Z contacted the local Catholic priest, Father Amedeus Mugendi, he declined to comment on the incident.
The priest stated, “The matter is sensitive, and I do not wish to discuss it because the police are handling it.”
Tragic Mystery: Young Secretary Found Dead at Catholic Church
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