- Written by Wycliffe Muir and Ian Wafula
- in nairobi
Kelvin Kangete allegedly murdered his girlfriend at the Boston airport and abandoned her body before fleeing to Kenya
Kenyan police have rearrested a fugitive murder suspect who escaped from police custody, local media reported.
Kelvin Kangete, 41, is wanted by U.S. authorities for the murder of his girlfriend in Boston last October.
He has not commented on the allegations.
He was being held in Kenya awaiting a decision on whether to extradite him to the United States.
Nairobi Police Chief Adamson Bungei said the suspect was arrested in Gon, on the outskirts of the capital, on Tuesday night after a five-day manhunt.
Police had revealed that Mr Kangete managed to walk out of Muthaiga police station where he had been detained last week. His legal team said their client's life was in danger.
“We have rearrested him. He is in custody and we would like to thank everyone who cooperated in this,” Bungay told news website The Star.
The Director of Criminal Investigation (DCI) said in a post on X that the suspect was arrested after a “detailed intelligence-led operation.”
He was then taken to Nairobi under tight security ahead of his arraignment.
Police said Kangete had taken refuge at a relative's house in the area when he was recaptured.
Dozens of detectives were on the hunt for Kangete.
Some of his relatives and a city lawyer were detained for questioning regarding his escape from Muthaiga police station.
Kangete is accused of killing his girlfriend in October last year and abandoning her body in his car at Boston's Logan International Airport.
He then boarded a plane to Kenya, his country of origin.
Kangete was arrested earlier this month as he left a club in Nairobi after a months-long investigation.
The family of Kangete's late girlfriend Margaret Mbithu told US media that they had been planning to end their relationship before she was killed.
She was a 30-year-old Kenyan-American nurse working in Halifax, Massachusetts.
Mbithu was last seen leaving work alive on the night of October 30 last year.
She was reported missing the same day and her body was found two days later.
Authorities believe Kangete left the United States sometime between Mbithu's disappearance and the discovery of her body.
They linked Kangete to the murder because surveillance cameras showed him leaving the airport car park where Mbithu's body was later found.
The suspect escaped and is currently in custody awaiting further charges.
