Body believed to be of missing UoN student Jane Atela found in City Mortuary
By Aloys Michael, October 26, 2025The family of Jane Atela, the University of Nairobi (UON) has identified the body of their kin in the City Mortuary in Nairobi.
In a press briefing on Sunday, October 26, 2025, Patrick Mwangela, the guardian of the 20-year-old, said the body must have been brought to the morgue on October 17, 2025.
“The body must have been recovered by the police on the seventeenth, and that area was the same proximity within which the crime was committed,” he said.
The body is, however, decomposed beyond recognition, save for parts, and the family now depends on the DNA report to fully identify their kin, who was brutally murdered.
“The view of the body is such that very little flesh remains in the part of the body. Part of the left leg is badly done, and the skull is separate from the body. The skull also bears evidence of violence,” Mwangela said.
“The only thing we are asking the government is to initiate a DNA, maybe that is the only one that would put us into the light, as if this is the body we are following up or dismiss it and continue following the body of an individual that is still missing.”
Family says Jane Atela, a second-year student pursuing a Bachelor of Education, disappeared on October 3, 2025, when she left her friends on campus to meet her boyfriend nearby, but by 7 p.m., her phone went off, and she never came back.
Her family reported the matter at Kikuyu Police Station in Kiambu after days of frantic searching. Soon after, callers began reaching out, one claiming Jane was in Kilgoris, and others demanding money to “release” her.
The family travelled to Kilgoris in the hope of finding her, but their search ended in heartbreak no sign of Jane. They returned to Nairobi, exhausted and anxious, still holding on to hope that she would come back home.
According to the Kikuyu Sub-county Police Commander, several phone numbers linked to the scam are under forensic analysis as detectives work to piece together the puzzle.
Neighbours, who declined to appear on camera, say Jane was last seen at her boyfriend’s house, where the two had a serious argument before she vanished.
The boyfriend, who is the main person of interest, has since been arrested by the police for interrogation and is waiting to be arraigned in court.