A man accused of murdering his girlfriend in Boston has been apprehended after escaping from police custody in Kenya last week.
Kevin Kangethe fled to the East African country on Nov. 1, after allegedly stabbing his girlfriend Margaret Mbitu and abandoning her body in his car at Boston Logan International Airport. She had been reported missing two days before her body was discovered.
Kangethe was first arrested outside of a nightclub in Nairobi, and taken into custody by Kenyan police. But one week later, he escaped.
On Feb. 7, a man who identified himself as John Maina Ndegwa went to the police station where Kangethe was being held and told authorities that he was the man’s lawyer, according to a police report reviewed by the Associated Press. The two were allowed to meet alone in an office, and that was when Kangethe made a run for it. He was briefly pursued by officers before he disappeared into a minivan. Ndegwa was taken into police custody.
“We have arrested the officers who were on duty when he escaped to explain how it happened,” Nairobi Police Chief Adamson Bungei said. “It is just embarrassing to us.” Suspicions have reportedly been raised that Kangethe’s escape was the result of bribery.
Kangethe was discovered at the home of a family friend after authorities were tipped off as to his whereabouts, Bungei told CNN.
Kangethe is being held at a different police station, and the process seeking his extradition to the United States is underway. His “custody is assured,” said Bungei.