The Facebook post that caught a murderer

Story and Illustration by Bilha Achieng | Layout by Geoffrey Onyambu | Published: 05th October 2026

CMM was a Form Four student, born out of wedlock and raised by her grandmother. Her aunt, who lived in Nairobi, paid her school fees.

On October 4, 2021, CMM set off from her aunt’s home in Nairobi for her grandmother’s home in Mumias, Kakamega County.

She was carrying a black bag packed with simple gifts from her aunt for her grandmother: 6kg of Kabras sugar and two packets of Fahari tea leaves.

The bag also contained three schoolbooks; Chozi la Heri, Golden Tips Chemistry and Mirror Biology and CMM’s Lenovo tablet, which she used as a mobile phone.

By 7pm, CMM’s uncle, David Wanga, was waiting for her at Shianda market in Mumias, where she was expected to alight from an Eldoret Express bus. But the bus had not arrived, and CMM was already several hours late.

Then, at about 9.30pm, David’s phone rang. It was CMM. She was crying. She told him she did not know exactly where she was, but believed she was somewhere in Butere.

..sijui mahali niliko kwa hakika, ...nadhani ni Butere...

David immediately rushed to Butere, searching for his niece. He could not find her and eventually returned home to alert the family.

Then another clue emerged.

David’s brother, Ernest, received a call from CMM’s cousin, Maureen. She had noticed a photograph of an unfamiliar man on CMM’s Facebook page.

At around 10pm, the aunt who had seen CMM off in Nairobi sent her a message: “Are you safe?”

About an hour later, a reply came from CMM’s phone:

“I am safe.”

It was the last message the family received. The phone was then switched off.

Three days later, on the morning of October 7, David reported CMM missing at Butere Police Station.

..Sawa, tutamtafuta sehemu zote...

But he was already searching on his own.

He went to the main boda boda stage at Shianda market and showed riders the photograph of the unfamiliar man from CMM’s Facebook account, asking whether anyone recognised him.

..Jee, mnajua huyu jamaa?

Several riders did.

They identified the man as John Inzofu Odinga.

The riders and David went to Odinga’s home, but he was not there. They eventually tracked him down at Muraka market and made a citizen’s arrest.

As they escorted him towards Butere Police Station, Odinga tried to escape. He was caught, and the riders tied his hands and legs with ropes.

...Please, niachilie!

By then, DCI officers had been alerted. They encountered the group and took Odinga into custody.

The investigators later accompanied him to his home and searched the premises.

Near Odinga’s bed, they found a black bag.

Inside were 6kg of sugar, two packets of tea leaves, CMM’s three schoolbooks and her Lenovo tablet.

The belongings had been found.

But CMM was nowhere to be seen.

Ahaaa, kuna vitabu vya shule hapa. Ni za form 4. Na tablet ya Lenovo.

Then came the discovery that turned the missing-person investigation into a murder case.

A security guard walking along a riverbank noticed a black polythene bag floating in the water. Curious, he pulled it from the river.

Inside was CMM’s body.

...hili gunia linakaa nzito, mbona likatupwa huku?...lina nini?

A postmortem examination found that she had been strangled and that her neck had been broken. Pathologists also found bruising to her private parts.

In court, Odinga denied involvement and claimed he had been framed by police. He alleged that officers had taken his photograph and uploaded it to CMM’s Facebook account to implicate him.

I’m innocent. Makarao ndio waliweka picha Facebook.

But the judge rejected that explanation.

The court found that the Facebook update containing Odinga’s photograph had been made before police became involved in the case and even before CMM’s family reported her missing.

The photograph, therefore, could not have been planted by police as Odinga claimed.

...He could have gotten away with it if he had not uploaded his photograph on the deceased’s Facebook page...