Police have detained Nicholas Mutua Mutia, the main suspect in the murder of University of Nairobi student Jane Atila Quedeya, for 21 days to allow investigators to complete their probe.
Jane, a 20-year-old second-year student at the university’s Kikuyu Campus, went missing on October 3, 2025. Her disappearance was reported to Kikuyu Police Station ten days later after her family’s efforts to trace her failed.
According to her guardian, Patrick Mwangale, Jane had left campus to meet her boyfriend, Mutua, before her phone went off and she never returned.
The family’s search took a strange turn when they received a call from a man claiming to be a senior police officer who said Atila had been found in Kilgoris, a claim that was later proven false.
Her disappearance ended tragically on October 17, 2025, when her decomposed body was discovered in a thicket within Kefri Muguga Forest. Forensic fingerprint analysis conducted by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), in collaboration with the National Registration Bureau, confirmed her identity.
The DCI said preliminary investigations established that Atila was last seen in the company of her estranged boyfriend, Mutua, moments before she vanished.
Following this lead, detectives arrested the 34-year-old suspect, who was later arraigned at the Kikuyu Law Courts on October 25, 2025.
The court granted the prosecution’s request to detain him for 21 days pending further investigations, which include forensic analysis and the recording of additional witness statements. The case will be mentioned on November 13, 2025.
Authorities say the murder investigation remains active, with detectives piecing together events leading to the student’s death as the family continues to call for justice.
