After a desperate week-long search for Rose Benta Apondi, a student at the Ramogi Institute of Advanced Technology, a grim discovery brought the search to a sorrowful conclusion. Detectives, led by the prime suspect in the disappearance of the 21-year-old, recovered her decomposed body, partially mauled by wild animals and abandoned in a thicket.
The suspect, Steven Colman Okoth, is reported to have opened up to detectives, admitting involvement in the brutal killing.
Steven, 24, is said to have recounted to investigators inside his cell at Maseno Police Station how, on April 5, he visited his girlfriend in Riat and came across text messages suggesting a future with another man.
He told detectives that he left the house, though not without signalling his return, an account later corroborated by both a caretaker and the victim’s neighbour.
What followed, according to his account, was a deeply troubling decision. He allegedly sought out two unknown individuals and recruited them for Sh500 to assault the victim, positioning them near the main gate of the college.
Later that afternoon, under the pretence of offering assistance with an application, he persuaded Rose Benta to step out. Trusting and unsuspecting, she walked towards what she believed was help, only to encounter a tragic and violent fate.
He later used the victim’s phone to send a series of digital messages, alerting family members, college mates, and friends before fleeing the scene.
A breakthrough in the case came when the victim’s phone was retrieved from a septic tank at a compound in Milimani Estate, where the suspect was employed as a social worker.
It was then that Steven offered to lead detectives to the scene where Rose Benta’s body had been disposed of.
He is expected to appear before the Maseno Law Courts on April 23 for plea taking.
