Police in Nairobi are investigating the death of a 32-year-old woman whose decomposed body was found inside her apartment weeks after she was last seen.
Mercy Wachiga Maina was found on September 3 in her apartment at For Homes in the Lavington area of Nairobi, according to police and local media reports. Officers forced open the door after concerns were raised about a strong smell coming from the residence.
Police said the door was locked from inside and that Maina’s body was found on a bed. A charcoal-burning jiko containing burnt charcoal was also found inside the apartment, according to reports.
The circumstances of her death remain under investigation.Police have said Maina is believed to have died by suicide and that a note recovered from the apartment had been authenticated. Other reports say an autopsy was pending to establish the cause and circumstances of death.
That means the death should not be described as definitively a suicide until the investigation and medical examination establish the cause.
The timeline
The available accounts differ slightly on the precise chronology, but they agree that Maina had not been seen for several weeks before her body was discovered.
The Star reported that police said she had last been seen on August 12. Other reports, citing the building’s management and neighbours, place her last interactions with residents in early August.
According to Tuko, a building cleaner first noticed an unusual smell while working in the apartment block. The matter was reported to property manager Musa Kombo on August 12.
Kombo told reporters that he went to Maina’s apartment and attempted to establish whether she was inside. Her door remained closed and calls to her went unanswered.
He later contacted the property owner before the matter was reported to Muthangari police, according to Tuko.
“I even called the owner of the house asking if Mercy had left any communication with him but he said there was none,” Kombo was quoted as saying.
Police eventually entered the apartment on September 3.
The exact sequence between the first report of the smell and police gaining access should be treated cautiously because published accounts give different versions of the timeline. What is established is that Maina’s body was discovered on September 3 after neighbours and building staff had raised concerns.
What police found
Officers found Maina’s body in an advanced state of decomposition, according to reports.
Scenes-of-Crime officers processed the apartment before the body was taken to the City Mortuary.
The discovery of the charcoal jiko has also become a significant part of the investigation.
A charcoal-burning stove can produce carbon monoxide in poorly ventilated conditions. But its presence inside the apartment does not, by itself, establish that carbon monoxide caused Maina’s death.
One report said investigators were considering different possibilities, including whether the jiko was connected to the death or had been left there accidentally.
No publicly reported evidence has established that another person was responsible.
The note
Police and family members have also reported the discovery of a handwritten note.
It is reported that authorities authenticated the note and that it contained Maina’s final wishes. Among them was a request that people stop judging one another and show more love.
The newspaper quoted one line from the note:
“Stop judging people.”
The Star also reported that Maina asked her mother to forgive her, requested that her possessions be given to her mother and expressed a preference for cremation or having her remains taken to a river.
Those details have been reported by local media, but the note itself has not been independently examined by this publication.
Her family’s account
Maina’s mother, Grace Nderitu, said the family last spoke to her daughter at the beginning of August.
She told a local TV station that nothing about that conversation suggested that Maina was facing an immediate crisis.
“She was a soft girl with a clean heart; she loved her mother and her siblings so much,” Nderitu was quoted as saying.
Family members have described Maina as sociable and caring.
Reports also say she had wanted to build a house for her mother and had arranged for her cat to be cared for outside the apartment before her death.
Questions remain
The case raises questions about the period between Maina’s last known contact with neighbours and the discovery of her body.
But the available evidence does not establish that relatives, neighbours or building management deliberately ignored her or knew that she was in danger.
Instead, several factual questions remain for investigators:
- When exactly was Maina last seen alive?
- When was the smell first reported?
- When did building management contact the owner?
- When was the matter reported to police?
- What will the post-mortem establish about the cause of death?
- What role, if any, did the charcoal jiko play?
- What evidence supports the preliminary conclusion that she died by suicide?
Answering those questions will require evidence from investigators, medical examiners and people who last saw or communicated with Maina.
A death that has raised wider questions
Maina’s death has also prompted discussion in Kenya about people living alone in large cities and how quickly a person can become isolated from those around them.
But the circumstances of one death should not be used to draw broader conclusions without evidence.
For now, the facts are stark enough: a 32-year-old woman was found dead inside her Nairobi apartment weeks after she was last seen; police found a charcoal jiko and a handwritten note; and investigators are working to establish exactly how she died.
The answer to that question will ultimately depend on the police investigation and medical findings.
Until then, Maina’s death remains a case under investigation, not a mystery to be solved through speculation.
