Dr Victoria Mutiso/FILE
Two police officers wanted in connection with the killing of clinical psychologist Dr Victoria Mutiso have disappeared.
Investigators now believe they may have fled to Uganda as detectives piece together a case that has taken them from a Nairobi shooting to a land dispute in Machakos and an earlier alleged attack along Ngong Road.
Inspector Kenneth Kipkemboi Sang and Collins Bett Kiplangat have been missing since July 31, two days after Dr Mutiso was shot dead in Nairobi.
Investigators believe the two may be hiding in Uganda and have sought the assistance of authorities in the neighbouring country to trace them.
Police have urged the two officers to surrender, warning them against a possible confrontation.
Sang is attached to Nderi police station, while Kiplangat is based at Thogoto police station.
According to investigators, both officers obtained permission from their respective stations to travel to their rural homes on medical grounds, saying their children were unwell.
Then their phones went silent.
Investigators say they later traced their movements to Uganda.
The disappearance has added another layer to an increasingly complex investigation into the July 29 killing of Dr Mutiso, who was shot while travelling in a vehicle in the Upper Hill area of Nairobi.
One of their colleagues, Constable Elijah Kimoi of Karinde police station, is already in custody.
According to an affidavit filed in court, investigators allege that Kimoi fired the fatal shot.
The investigation has since widened, with detectives examining whether the killing was carefully planned and whether several people were involved.
At the centre of one possible motive is a long-running land dispute in Mlolongo, Machakos county.
The dispute concerns Land Parcel IR No. 1504/13 and is the subject of Civil Suit No. ELC/E111/2025 at the Machakos Law Courts. The case was filed by Rose Mbithe Mulwa.
Investigators say Dr Mutiso had placed a caveat on the property and believe that action may have been viewed as a threat to the interests of parties involved in the dispute.
The matter is also being investigated by the DCI in Mlolongo under Inquiry No. 14/2026.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations says Mulwa is the former wife of Dr Mutiso's husband, Prof David Musyimi Ndetei.
But detectives are looking beyond the land dispute as they seek to establish what happened in the days and weeks before the shooting.
Seven suspects, including a mother and her two children, are currently in custody, according to investigators.
On August 10, the High Court allowed the state to detain Kimoi and two civilians for 30 days as investigations continued.
The two civilians are driver Daniel Njoroge and boda boda rider Kevin Kinuthia.
In an affidavit, DCI Homicide Investigations Bureau officer Corporal Romana Odour outlined what investigators believe were the alleged roles of the three suspects.
According to Odour, preliminary investigations indicate that Kimoi was the person who fired the fatal shot.
Investigators allege that Njoroge was driving a black Toyota Prado, registration KDH 600A, which blocked the Toyota Passo, registration KDJ 609D, in which Dr Mutiso was travelling.
Kinuthia is alleged to have used a motorcycle, registration KMGZ 980D, to transport Kimoi to and from the scene.
The three were arrested on August 7 during what the DCI described as an intelligence-led operation.
They were subsequently held at Ruaraka, Pangani and Gigiri police stations.
The court was told that releasing the suspects could interfere with the ongoing investigations.
Magistrate Paul Mutai said the safety of the suspects could not be guaranteed at that stage.
Then came the forensic trail.
Investigators recovered two spent cartridges and two bullet fragments from the scene and submitted them for forensic examination.
A Mini Jericho pistol was also recovered and examined.
According to the DCI, preliminary ballistic findings linked the recovered cartridge cases and bullet head to the firearm.
Investigators say the pistol had been issued to a senior police officer who is now at large.
That officer is identified as Inspector Sang — one of the two officers investigators are now seeking.
But the investigation has also reached further back in time.
Weeks before her death, Dr Mutiso had reported another frightening encounter.
On July 7, according to court documents, she told police that two armed men on a motorcycle had confronted her near Junction Mall along Ngong Road.
The men allegedly pointed a gun at her before she managed to escape.
She later reported the incident at Kilimani police station.
Investigators have alleged that Kimoi was one of the men involved in that incident.
That allegation remains part of the ongoing investigation.
Dr Mutiso's husband, Prof Ndetei, has been identified as a key witness.
Investigators say he is yet to record a comprehensive statement because of the traumatic circumstances surrounding his wife's death.
His evidence is expected to help detectives examine previous threats against Dr Mutiso and identify people who may have been involved.
The investigation is now spreading across several fronts.
Detectives are seeking to recover firearms suspected to have been used in the killing, examine CCTV footage and call-data records, and analyse the vehicles and motorcycle allegedly linked to the operation.
They are also seeking statements from outstanding witnesses and trying to establish the alleged roles of other suspects.
Then investigators uncovered another strand.
The three suspects in custody were allegedly promised money to carry out the killing.
According to investigators, the money was to come from the sale of a Range Rover that has since been seized.
Police say the vehicle was among four cars stolen from Dr Mutiso's home in Mlolongo in February 2026.
Investigators allege the raid involved the use of forged documents.
The allegations have not been tested in court.
For now, detectives are left following a trail that stretches from the scene of a fatal shooting in Upper Hill to a disputed piece of land in Mlolongo, an earlier alleged encounter on Ngong Road, a seized Range Rover and, now, across the border into Uganda.
And somewhere along that trail are two police officers investigators want to question.
Sang and Kiplangat remain at large as detectives continue searching for them and for answers to the killing of Dr Mutiso.
INSTANT ANALYSIS
The Dr Victoria Mutiso murder investigation is widening into a complex web involving police officers, an alleged contract killing, a land dispute and a trail now extending to Uganda. The disappearance of two officers believed to be linked to the case raises fresh questions about possible insider involvement. Investigators’ next challenge will be establishing the full chain of events and accountability.
