In a shocking turn of events, a Lowell man, Kevin Kangethe, 40, who police say killed his girlfriend in Massachusetts and fled to Kenya, made a daring escape from police custody — sparking an international manhunt.
As per Boston 25 News, Kangethe was slated for extradition to face a first-degree murder charge for the death of his girlfriend, 31-year-old Margaret Mbitu of Whitman, whose remains were discovered in a vehicle at Boston Logan International Airport's parking facility. The suspect, after orchestrating a facade with an alleged attorney, made a break for freedom and hopped into a minivan, throwing the authorities off his trail. The escape has flung four Kenyan police officers into custody and renewed a fervent search for the fugitive.
The details of this grim saga emerged when Massachusetts State Police located the deceased Mbitu, who was reported missing by relatives, last seen after finishing her shift in Halifax; it was only later, back on October 31, 2023, that the police surmise Kangethe took her life, according to NBC Boston.
The Nairobi Police Department was holding Kangethe since January 30 after Massachusetts officials, with the cooperation of Kenyan law enforcement, apprehended him at a nightclub, the arrest a climax to three months of cross-continental diligence, Kangethe had his next court appearance penned for Friday before he executed his escape prompting the Nairobi police chief to arrest the officers who were on duty, as the scent of corruption wafts in the Kenyan air, the police's own malaise seducing its officers into complicity for decades, embroiled in a system where freedom might be sold for a price.
This case stretches beyond the borders, binding two nations in the shared ledger of law and the unchecked ledger of corruption — forcing both to face the challenges when justice is mocked by the very hands sworn in to uphold it.
