Kenyan authorities announced on Monday that they had extradited a man to the United States who is accused of murdering his girlfriend. The case gained attention when he escaped from police custody in Nairobi.
Kevin Kang’ethe had been the target of a three-month international manhunt after he fled to Kenya from the United States following the killing of Margaret Mbitu. She was found stabbed to death in a carpark at Boston’s Logan airport in November.
After being arrested in January in Kenya, Kang’ethe managed to escape from a holding cell within a week, embarrassing the Kenyan police. However, he was recaptured in February while hiding at a relative’s home outside Nairobi.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) stated that Kang’ethe had left Kenya on Sunday and was set to face a murder charge in a Boston court on Tuesday.
During talks in Nairobi in June, Director of Public Prosecutions Renson Ingonga assured FBI Director Christopher Wray that his office was committed to ensuring swift justice in this case.
In connection with Kang’ethe’s jailbreak, four police officers, two relatives, and a lawyer were arrested.
In a separate incident, a suspected serial killer accused of murdering and dismembering numerous women escaped from a Nairobi police station last month. An extensive manhunt was launched for Collins Jumaisi and 12 Eritrean detainees, but they remain at large.