Shock as woman is found murdered and buried in shallow grave in Ugenya
By Eric Juma, September 22, 2025The police have launched a manhunt for a person of interest in the murder of a female employer at Kangonya sub-location, Ugenya sub-county in Siaya.
According to Kagonya Assistant Chief Eric Ochieng Okoth, preliminary investigation placed the person of interest at the murder scene, though he went missing and is still at large. It is the deceased son who raised an alarm, prompting the chief to mobilise locals for a search mission.
“The following morning, one of the sons who returned home to continue the search on Monday morning bumped into a fresh grave in the kitchen garden,” Ochieng said on Monday, 22 September 2025.
She was living with the person of interest while his children and husband resided in Kisumu, where they work.
Ochieng said the deceased son, with the aid of locals, excavated the fresh grave and landed on a sack with the body of his mother stuffed in it, an incident that saw the family break into tears.
“The deceased was slaughtered, stuffed in a sack and buried in a shallow grave behind her kitchen. On the burial site, a jembe and slippers for the gardener were found,” he narrated.
The administrator said that he alerted the police, who came and helped to collect and remove the body to the Ukwala sub-county health facility.
He added that the person of interest could not be reached on the phone after the incident, and police are pursuing him.
Ochieng, at the same time, warned locals against recruiting foreigners or any Kenyan without proper identification documents and a letter from the Chief.
“Members of the public must submit details of their domestic workers to the authorities for security reasons, background checks, and tracing in case of an incident,” he said.
Domestic workers’ evil mode?
The chief regretted that the request had not been heeded, thus making tracing difficult.
The Assistant County Commissioner Ann Ojwando echoed the Chiefs’ statements, saying that the public is reluctant to divulge the information about their domestic workers.
“We have been seeking details of the gardeners or domestic workers recruited in the community, including their IDS, which Ugandans know as LCI for background check-ups, but bosses have been reluctant,” Ojwando explained.
“Demanding such documents at times makes the foreigners scared to the extent of terminating the contract, but that to us is helping us to safeguard lives.”
Ojwando said that unless they get hold of such documents, taming sexual harassment or killings perpetuated by the domestic workers is not easy.