Authorities are puzzled over the disappearance of a police officer, Constable Eunice Achieng’ Okal, who was lured to Oyugis town by her estranged husband on July 30.
The mystery deepened over the weekend after the missing policewoman’s husband committed suicide on Friday in Kanyaluo, Rachuonyo South in Homa Bay County.
Villagers found the body of John Owuor Odiango dangling from a rope tied on the roof of his house.
But on Saturday evening, August 8, it emerged that the policewoman’s phone was switched off around Kilgoris town in Narok County on the day the deceased husband picked her up.
Police also revealed that hours before killing self, Odiango had telephoned his wife’s housegirl, asking her to send their three children to his home in Oyugis town.
“Investigations show that he called the housegirl persistently on Friday, insisting that the three children be sent to him. He promised to send the housegirl money for the children’s bus fare to Oyugis,” said an officer familiar with the case.
But Odiango’s insistence on taking custody of the children made the housegirl suspicious and she instead took them to the policewoman’s sister in Kisii County.
The man is said to have committed suicide hardly an hour after talking to the housegirl.
Sleuths from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations are now tracing the missing policewoman and also trying to figure out why the man committed suicide.
“The man could have killed himself to avoid facing the law or could not come to terms with the separation. Separation and divorce always raise the suicide risk,” a detective said.
Detectives hope that they will find their missing colleague alive.
“We are, however, concerned that she has not been heard of or been seen for over a week by those who might be expected to know if she was okay,” the senior officer said.
The missing policewoman is based at the Nyanchwa police station in Kitutu Central, Kisii County.
She was last seen with her deceased husband who had told her he was going to give her Sh250,000 from a business they formerly co-owned in Oyugis township, about 22km away on the Kisumu-Kisii highway.
The policewoman had just applied to be given two days off duty to attend to an undisclosed matter.
But she overstayed and her commander planned to charge her with absenteeism but family members enquired about her at the workplace raising fears of her disappearance.
Several days before he hanged himself to death, the policewoman’s husband appeared disturbed and stopped talking to people.
“He was seen walking around with a shawl. That was very unusual. The day he committed suicide, he was seen walking naked within Oyugis town,” a villager said.
Initial investigations revealed that the policewoman may have travelled to Kisii, Kitale town, Rongo and Kilgoris.
“If she is the one who had the phone, it is believed that she travelled to those towns. We are, however, yet to establish that,” a source told People Daily.
