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Best known for lying directly on the equator, the market town of Nanyuki has now become synonymous with a heartbreaking event. This is the place where Agnes Wanjiru was born and lived, and tragically murdered.

Months passed as her loved ones looked for her, until her body was found dumped in a sewage container at the very hotel where she was last spotted.

Early Life

Agnes was brought up by her parent, who did what the family lovingly called “side hustle jobs,” such as cultivating, while supporting her family of five.

First born child, Rose Wanyua Wanjiku, was then came a male sibling, James Mwangi, next Cecilia Muthoni, and finally Francinsca Njoki. Agnes was the baby.

For all her 21 years, Agnes resided in Nanyuki. On the rare occasions she went away, it was just to spend time with her older sister Cecilia, who lived some distance away.

Education and Interests

She commenced her early education at DEB primary, and afterward enrolled at Gakawa high school. She loved classes and her beloved subject was English literature.

Agnes also was passionate about music—she would often be seen singing or dancing.

She liked busying herself in the cooking area and using her spare time with her relatives. As a sibling, child, and auntie, Agnes was reliable and caring, her family recalled. She was also funny.

“She was forever making jokes, grinning,” said her younger relative Esther Njoki. “We were always chuckling due to her jokes.”

Career and Motherhood

Growing up, Agnes would look after her little nieces, frequently styling their hair. Later on, she turned her hobby into a profession; she began studying to be a beautician in 2010.

She graduated from her course in August 2011. Only a few months later, prior to she had a chance to properly start out her new career, she was killed.

During the time she completed her studies, Agnes was also in her third trimester. Her daughter Stacey was born on 20 October 2011.

“Agnes’s emotions about becoming a mum was as if the greatest joy in the world,” Esther Njoki shared.

She loved her little girl but struggled to take care of her. Similar to numerous women in Nanyuki, Agnes would earn additional income from sex work. The British army training base provided a constant stream of custom.

Her Final Hours

Military personnel would visit Nanyuki to have fun, and many would engage in sex with women from the area, frequently a few in one night, offering them only the equal of £1 a time.

Agnes would visit bars in the town to catch up with her friends and enjoy music. The night she disappeared, 31 March 2012, unfolded typically. She went to the a popular spot, a favourite spot of British soldiers, to join her friends Florence Nyaguthii and Susan Nyambura.

They said her joining them at around 11pm and the three women dancing together. Agnes was enjoying a beer that she informed her friends had been given to her by a British soldier.

Rather than heading to her sister’s place like she did every other night, Agnes vanished. The following day, her friends and family had gotten no news from her.

They went to the hotel where she was last seen, and devoted weeks searching for Agnes, when her body was found two months later.

Ongoing Pain

Agnes’s death has had a enduring impact on her family. Stacey was a baby when she said goodbye to her mother and will not remember her, but has been deeply affected after finding out how she died.

“We have been experiencing moments where she sees something about her mum and she breaks down,” Njoki explained, “and that’s due to trauma.”

Njoki and her mother, Rose, have carried the weight of Agnes’s death for over a decade. “You just keep on remembering Agnes, about the case, and you just get upset,” she admitted.

“It’s really painful, for sure, and saddening, and our hearts have been shattered.”