The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has linked the killing of clinical psychologist and mental health researcher Dr Victoria Nthunya Mutiso to a long-running land dispute, saying investigations have identified the alleged financiers, organisers and operational team behind the fatal shooting.
Addressing the media on Friday, DCI Director Mohamed Amin said detectives had made significant progress following an intensive multi-agency investigation launched after Dr Mutiso was shot dead on July 29, 2026, while travelling in an Uber vehicle in Nairobi's Upper Hill area.
Detectives had initially said she was ambushed after a vehicle blocked the taxi before gunmen opened fire.
Amin said investigators established that the killing was linked to a civil dispute over ownership of land in Mlolongo, Machakos County.
"The elimination of Doctor Victoria Mutiso was driven by a long-standing land dispute in a civil suit. Before the Machakos court, Dr Victoria Mutiso had placed a caveat on land parcel LR No. 1504/13 situated within Mlolongo, and this action was perceived as a direct threat to the interests of certain parties involved in the ownership and control of the property. Rose Mbinde Mulwa, the ex-wife of the deceased husband, is a main suspect in this particular matter," he said.
Dr Victoria Nthunya Mutiso was a respected clinical psychologist and internationally recognised mental health researcher who worked with the Africa Mental Health Research and Training Foundation.
She was widely known for her work on mental health policy, psychological wellbeing and community-based research in Kenya and across Africa.
Dr Mutiso was shot dead on the morning of July 29, 2026, after gunmen ambushed the Uber vehicle she was travelling in along Ralph Bunche Road in Nairobi's Upper Hill area, near Kenyatta National Hospital.
She sustained fatal gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead after the attack, prompting a homicide investigation by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
The DCI director alleged that detectives had identified the principal financiers behind the murder plot.
"Investigators have further established that Rose Mbinde Mulwa and her son, Christopher Mulwa, were the primary organizers and financiers of the conspiracy. The evidence gathered points to their central role in conceptualizing, directing and facilitating the operation that culminated in the unfortunate shooting of Dr Mutiso," Amin stated.
He explained that forensic analysis had also identified the police officer alleged to have fired the fatal shot.
"Thorough analysis of evidence has further established the identity of the officer who pulled the trigger. One PC Elijah Kibelion Kimoi, attached to Karinde Police Post under Kikuyu Police Station, has equally been arrested. We were able to forensically place him at the scene of the fatal shooting. He is the individual identified as having fatally shot Dr Mutiso," he added.
Amin further alleged that another police officer played a central role in coordinating the operation and supplying the murder weapon.
"The evidence led our investigators to Kenya Police Service officers who, apparently and unfortunately, played very critical roles in the conspiracy. Inspector Kenneth Kipkemboi Sang, the officer in charge of Nderi Police Post under Kikuyu Police Station, has been positively identified as the link person between the financiers and the operational team, as well as the source of the murder weapon, and this officer is currently on the run," he said.
He added that "rigorous forensic analysis, detailed CCTV examination and intelligence-led operations rapidly led investigators to two key suspects: Daniel Mwangi Njoroge and Kelvin Ngugi Kinuthia. Daniel Mwangi Njoroge has been established as a central organizer of the operation. He was the driver of the Land Cruiser Prado registration number KDH 600A, which was used to block the Uber driver in which the victim was travelling immediately before the fatal shooting. Daniel coordinated the logistics, facilitated the movement of the execution team and played a key organisational role in the entire conspiracy."