Detectives in Kilifi County are investigating what is being treated as a murder after the body of a 74-year-old man who had been reported missing was discovered in a thicket along Boatyard Road, with his head reportedly still missing at the time of the search.
The elderly man is said to have gone missing on September 18, prompting relatives to raise the alarm and alert police two days later after he failed to return home. According to accounts from those close to the investigation, the family is said to have subsequently received a mobile phone message directing them to the area where the body was later found, a detail investigators say they are treating as potentially significant to identifying those responsible.
Police who visited the scene said the body bore injuries consistent with violence, and investigators are said to be working on the theory that the man may have been killed elsewhere before his remains were dumped at the location where he was found. Officers have not ruled out any line of inquiry and say a search for the missing body part is ongoing, with security personnel combing the surrounding bush and waterways in the area.
Detectives say the motive for the killing remains unclear, and no arrests had been reported by the time of publication. Investigators are expected to rely on the mobile phone message reportedly sent to the family, along with forensic evidence from the scene, as they work to piece together the elderly man’s final movements and establish who may have been responsible.
Such killings, while not common, tend to generate significant public concern in the coastal county, where police have in the past linked isolated cases of violent crime to disputes over land and family inheritance. Authorities have urged residents with any information that could assist the investigation to come forward, while cautioning the public against speculation as the case remains active.
The county’s security team is expected to issue further updates as the investigation progresses. Kilifi police say they are treating the case with urgency given its disturbing nature, and forensic examiners are expected to conduct further tests on recovered evidence to help establish a definitive timeline of events leading to the man’s death.