Constable Pauline Wangari's Murder: Key Suspect Joseph Ochieng' Hospitalized After Stabbing Himself

Key suspect in the brutal killing of Constable Pauline Wangari has been hospitalized after attempting to commit suicide.

Joseph Ochieng' was reportedly rushed to a Buruburu hospital after stabbing himself in the abdomen with a kitchen knife on Friday.

Ochieng', 24, attempted to kill himself as detectives carried out a search in his house in Maringo, Makadara Constituency.

This came after Murang’a Law Courts earlier on Friday allowed DCI officers to conduct a search in the suspect’s house as part of investigations into Wangari’s killing.

Speaking to a local news outlet, Murang’a police commander Josephat Kinyua says detectives rushed Ochieng' to hospital after he stabbed himself at around 3 pm.

A laptop and a mobile phone belonging to Ms. Wangari were recovered from the suspect's house.

Murang’a Principal Magistrate, Sheila Nyaga also allowed police to hold him for 14 days pending the completion of investigations.

Ochieng’ reportedly confessed to killing Wangari, a 24-year-old Murang’a prison warden.

The suspect said he met Ms. Wangari on Facebook and they have been communicating online until Monday, May 13th when they met face-to-face for the first time. 

Ochieng', who claims to be an artist, said he traveled from Nairobi on Monday morning to meet Wangari in Murang'a for the first time.

The Kisumu-born man told detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) that an altercation ensued between him and the deceased after she refused to take some hard drugs, which he had taken with him to Wangari's house in Kiharu.

During the argument, the man says he started strangling her before she fell down.

“Sent into panic mode, the suspect narrated how he reached for a kitchen knife and stabbed her in the chest, neck, and abdomen, and, thereafter, put the knife firmly in her grip in a bid to make it looks like Wangari had killed herself,” a DCI officer who sought anonymity said.

In his testimony, Ochieng' also revealed that they had sex before the heated quarrel.

Ochieng' is said to be the suspect who was captured on CCTV cameras entering Wangari’s house at 9 pm on Monday, and exiting at 3 am on Tuesday.

The cameras further showed the suspect carrying the deceased’s bag, her mobile phone, and a TV set.

Ochieng was arrested on a roadblock at Kipsitet area in Kericho County on Thursday evening.

He was traveling to Kisumu in a Mercedes Benz alongside two other people – a man and a woman, who was the driver. Police officers used his phone signal to locate him.

Wangari was found dead on her bed on Wednesday, with her entire bedding soaked in blood. 

She had been stabbed severally in the head, abdomen, and neck. A roll of bhang was also placed between her lips, and a kitchen knife clutched in her right hand.