Family recalls final moments of woman whose body was retrieved in a quarry two weeks after disappearance

In the living room, Jackline Wangui’s family, each holding a story of a family that is still trying to come to terms with the loss of their mother.

For 24-year-old Lawrence Kamau, the first-born of three of Wangui’s children, the room has become a painful reminder of the woman he last saw on Thursday August 13,2026.

As the two engaged in an ordinary mother- son conversation neither knew it would be their final call.

The following day, August 14, Wangui left her home in Langalanga, at around 10am, telling her family she would return the next day after completing her shift, which usually lasted 24 hours. She had worked as a receptionist at Leopard View Hotel along Kanu Street for more than 10 years. Before living home, she told her son she was heading to a meeting before proceeding to work.

But Wangui never returned.

For Kamau, what followed has been a painful journey from worry to grief, and now frustration.

“My mum was the kind of person who routinely called home to check on my younger siblings, sometimes even four time in a day. When her calls stopped, we knew something was wrong,” he noted.

Kamau travelled from Maili Sita where he lives to join his family in searching for her. They went to her workplace, where they learnt that Wangui had reported for work as usual. Then, at about 7pm, she received a phone call and left work leaving her handbag at the reception only taking her phone with her.

Through Kamau’s trail on where his mum had gone after leaving her work premises, he noted through CCTV footage that she boarded a motorcycle leaving the hotel. The family traced the motorcycle rider and sought to establish where he had dropped Wangui. But the answers they needed did not come.

The rider was briefly held and later released after police said there was no evidence linking him to her disappearance.

The family reported the case at Bondeni Police Station on OB 13/16/08. They were referred to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations for further investigations and later turned to social media, circulating Wangui’s photographs and appealing to the public for information.

The hopes to find Wambui alive were shuttered two weeks later after they were asked to go at Kwa Jack Mortuary to identify a badly decomposing body of a woman discovered on Kagoto quarry by herds men in the area.

The family positively identified the body as Wangui on August 27

A postmortem, according to Kamau, established that Wangui had died from strangulation and had suffered a broken rib.

Nakuru County Police Commander Samuel Boit confirmed 11 witnesses had since recorded statements with the DCI including the family.

He said that the already obtained CCTV footage is being analysed to help detectives with further investigation to trace her final movements.

“This was a well-coordinated murder incident. We have launched an investigation which is on an advanced stage, we are following a crucial lead. We will also move to court to obtain a court order which will be sent to Safaricom to be allowed to analyse phone data which will help us to establish who she was in constant communication," he said.

As the family prepares to bury Wangui at their ancestral home in Kiambu County, the grief is compounded by what might have been. September 3 was supposed to be her birthday. Instead, the family will lay her to rest.

All the family wants is justice for their mother.

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