Bodies believed to be of missing Kayole family found day after Peter Mugure arrested

Detectives have discovered bodies believed to be of the Kayole family members who went missing three weeks ago.

This comes a day after Major Peter Mugure was arrested in connection with the disappearance of his estranged partner Joyce Syombua (31) and children; Shanice Maua (10) and Prince Michael (5).

On Saturday, the bodies were discovered at Makaburini in Thingithu area with the children stacked on top of their mother.

Thingithu is approximately 9-minutes away from the Laikipia Air Base.

As detectives dug up the shallow grave, Major Mugure remained silent, sitting still in a police vehicle a few meters from the scene.

Detectives had launched investigations after Syombua’s mother, Elizabeth Maua, went to Soweto Police Station in Nairobi and reported her family missing.

She alleged that the suspect had at one time tried to poison the children.

Major Mugure had previously been ordered by court to pay maintenance costs for his children after DNA tests proved he was their father.

“He (Mugure) was not on good terms with her (Syombua) for some time,” Nanyuki DCI boss Mureithi told Citizen Digital in an earlier interview.

When the three went missing, a friend identified as Farizana also reported the matter at Nanyuki Police Station.

Curiously, Syombua’s phone was found a day later, inside a 4NTE matatu.

However, according to the matatu crew, the vehicle had just returned from a trip to Nyahururu and at no time during that weekend had it carried the three missing persons.

Detectives then said they would wait for call-log details from Syombua’s phone before announcing the next step of the investigation.

On Friday, Major Mugure was questioned for seven hours as detectives sought to know what happened to the family that resided in Kayole, Nairobi.

This was the third time that Mugure was being questioned.

The Kenya Defense Force (KDF) officer had earlier told police that he did not know whether the three did indeed board a vehicle to Nairobi.

He is said to have hosted Syombua and their two children at the Nanyuki Airbase until Saturday at around 7pm.

Mugure claimed to have then escorted the three to Nanyuki Bus Station; however, when he was interrogated for a second time, his story changed.

He now alleged that Syombua had called a friend in Nairobi and then left the Airbase with the children.

The suspect is currently being held at the Nanyuki Police Station.