Massachusetts family enraged after murder suspect escapes from police in Kenya
WHITMAN - A Massachusetts family is enraged after the man accused of killing a woman and leaving her body in a car at Logan Airport escaped from police in Africa.
Kevin Kangethe was being held in Kenya awaiting extradition back to the U.S. in the murder of 31-year-old Maggie Mbitu of Whitman last year. Kangethe escaped from a police station in Nairobi on Wednesday.
"I don't have no words. It's very, very depressing, very painful," Joel Muhoro, Mbitu's cousin, told reporters in Whitman Thursday night. "They had him. They told us they had him and they let him walk out. So who can we trust?"
"We are very, very hurt. We haven't had the chance to grieve our daughter, our sister, our cousin. Maggie's body is still calling us to fight for her justice," said Mbitu's sister, Mary Kinyariro.
Mbitu was found stabbed to death in a car at Logan Airport last November. Investigators said Kangethe, 40, of Lowell, killed her and left Boston on a flight to Kenya.
Last week, Kangethe was arrested in a nightclub in Kenya after three months on the run. On Wednesday afternoon, investigators say police let him out of his cell in Nairobi to meet with a man claiming to be his lawyer. That's when they say Kangethe slipped out of the police station and jumped into a van waiting for him.
"Everyone is asking, what went wrong? How come he did not have chains?" said the family's pastor, the Rev. Dorcas Albrecht.
"We need him arrested. We need him being arrested so that we can find justice for Maggie. He needs to be accountable for what he did," Muhoro said.
Kenyan authorities said the officers who were on duty when Kangethe escaped have been arrested and will have to answer to what happened.
A spokesperson for the Suffolk County District Attorney's office says federal authorities informed them of Kangethe's escape, writing: "It is our hope that Kenyan law enforcement will do their utmost to recapture Kangethe so that we can continue seeking justice for Margaret Mbitu and her family."