A 30-year-old security guard from Nakuru County was found murdered in a suspected domestic violence case that has left residents of Bahati Sub-County in shock and raised fresh concern over intimate partner violence.
Jackline Awuor, who worked with a private security firm in Nakuru, went missing on the morning of March 29, 2026, shortly after leaving home for duty.
Her disappearance triggered an immediate search after she failed to report to work and her phone became unreachable.
Hours later, her mutilated body was discovered in a quarry in Maili Saba, Bahati Sub-County. Police said her torso, still in her security uniform and work boots, had been dumped on a stone inside the quarry.
Her head was later recovered about 500 metres away, wrapped in a blood-stained sweater, in what investigators described as a deliberate and targeted act.
Authorities noted that the scene pointed to a planned attack rather than a random assault. Personal items belonging to the victim, including gloves and earrings, were also recovered along a path she is believed to have used regularly.
Awuor was employed by Protective Custody Security Limited and had worked in the sector for more than three years. Colleagues and relatives described her as disciplined, reliable and committed to her work.
She was also a mother to a three-year-old daughter and had been making plans to improve her living conditions, including arranging daycare support for the child.
Family members said she had recently expressed emotional distress linked to her personal relationship and had moved out of a shared home weeks before her death.
She is reported to have told close relatives that she intended to end her relationship and rebuild her life independently.
Investigators linked the killing to her long-term relationship with a 35-year-old man from Kakamega County, with whom she had a four-year “come-we-stay” arrangement and one child.
The relationship is said to have been marked by repeated disputes over finances and allegations of controlling behaviour.
Police sources indicated that the suspect had previously threatened her after she expressed intentions to leave the relationship.
Following the discovery of the body, he reportedly fled with the couple’s child, prompting a coordinated manhunt.
On April 1, detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, working with local police, arrested the suspect at his rural home in Navakholo, Kakamega County.
He later led investigators to key exhibits, including the victim’s severed head, recovered from an abandoned quarry, as well as clothing believed to have been used to conceal it.
A kitchen knife suspected to be the murder weapon was also recovered from a pit latrine.
The victim’s remains were transferred to a local mortuary for identification and post-mortem examination. Her daughter was rescued safely and placed under protective care.
The suspect is being held in custody in Nakuru pending arraignment on murder charges as investigations continue.
Authorities say the case is being treated as a suspected intimate partner violence killing, highlighting ongoing concerns over rising domestic-related murders in the country.