Once known for sitting directly on the equator, the town of Nanyuki has since become linked to a tragic event. This is where Agnes Wanjiru was born and raised, and sadly murdered.
Months went by as her relatives hunted for her, until her body was found dumped in a sewage container at the exact hotel where she was last spotted.
Her Background
Agnes was raised by her parent, who took on what the family lovingly called “small jobs,” such as cultivating, while raising her five children.
The eldest child, Rose Wanyua Wanjiku, was followed by a son, James Mwangi, next Cecilia Muthoni, and then Francinsca Njoki. Agnes was the youngest.
During her young adulthood, Agnes stayed in Nanyuki. Whenever she left town, it was just to see her sister Cecilia, who lived some distance away.
School and Hobbies
She commenced her primary education at a local primary school, and later enrolled at Gakawa secondary school. She liked classes and her beloved subject was reading.
Agnes also loved music—regularly be spotted singing or moving to the beat.
She liked working in the cooking area and spending her free time with her extended family. As a sibling, child, and auntie, Agnes was dependable and caring, her family shared. She was also funny.
“She was always joking, grinning,” mentioned her younger relative Esther Njoki. “We were always laughing thanks to her jokes.”
Work and Family
Growing up, Agnes would watch over her young relatives, spending time plaiting their hair. Eventually, she turned her pastime into a career; she commenced learning to be a hairstylist in 2010.
She completed her training in August 2011. Just a few months later, even before she had time to truly launch her new career, she was murdered.
During the time she finished her studies, Agnes was also heavily pregnant. Her child Stacey was born on 20 October 2011.
“Agnes’s emotions about having a child was like the best feeling ever,” Esther Njoki recalled.
She loved her infant but struggled to support her. Similar to many women in Nanyuki, Agnes would supplement her earnings from sex work. The British army training base brought a constant stream of clients.
Her Final Hours
Soldiers would visit Nanyuki to drink, and a number would pay for sex with residents, often multiple in one night, paying them as little as the equal of £1 a time.
Agnes would go to bars in the town to catch up with her friends and have fun. The night she disappeared, 31 March 2012, unfolded like many others. She went to the a popular spot, a common location of British soldiers, to meet her friends Florence Nyaguthii and Susan Nyambura.
They remembered her meeting them at approximately 11pm and the three women enjoying themselves together. Agnes was sipping a beer that she informed her friends had been purchased for her by a British soldier.
Instead of returning home as she had every other night, Agnes was never seen again. The following day, her friends and family had not heard from her.
They visited the hotel where she was last seen, and devoted weeks searching for Agnes, before her body was found two months later.
Ongoing Pain
Agnes’s death has had a enduring effect on her family. Stacey was just an infant when she said goodbye to her mother and does not remember her, but has been traumatized after learning how she died.
“We have been experiencing moments where she sees something about her mum and she becomes emotional,” Njoki explained, “and that’s due to trauma.”
Njoki and her mother, Rose, have carried the heavy burden of Agnes’s death for 13 years. “You just keep on remembering Agnes, about the case, and you just become heartbroken,” she confided.
“It’s really traumatising, for sure, and upsetting, and our hearts are broken.”
