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Man charged with murder of woman found dead at Logan Airport extradited from Kenya to Boston

Man accused of killing girlfriend extradited from Kenya to Boston
Man accused of killing girlfriend extradited from Kenya to Boston 00:25

BOSTON - Kevin Kangethe, the man accused of stabbing his girlfriend to death, leaving her in an SUV at Logan Airport in Boston and fleeing to Kenya last year, is back in Massachusetts to face charges.

The FBI's Boston office said Monday they brought Kangethe back from Nairobi on a flight to Boston Saturday evening after he spent ten months overseas.

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Kevin Kangethe in Nairobi, Kenya on February 14, 2024. SIMON MAINA/AFP via Getty Images

He's now being held by the Massachusetts State Police and will be arraigned on a first degree murder charge in Suffolk Superior Court Tuesday.

Boston to Kenya

Investigators say Kangethe stabbed 31-year-old Maggie Mbitu of Whitman to death and then took a one-way flight to Kenya on October 31.

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Maggie Mbitu Courtesy photos

Mbitu was found in a car at a Logan Airport garage on November 2, three days after her family reported her missing.

Kangethe was arrested in Kenya on January 29, but he escaped from a police station there a few days later by slipping out into a minivan.

He was captured again on February 14 outside of Nairobi and was indicted in Mbitu's murder in Suffolk County. Kangethe, 42, of Lowell, renounced his American citizenship. The extradition process to get him back to Boston took nearly seven months.

Who was Maggie Mbitu?

Mbitu was a nurse at BAMSI in Halifax, Massachusetts. She worked in group homes helping people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Kenyan prosecutors said last month that when Kangethe was arrested, he had Mbitu's driver's license, Bank of America debit card and a visa card. 

"Our family has been notified by District Attorney Kevin Hayden's office that the process for bringing justice for our beloved Maggie will continue tomorrow with the arraignment of the person charged with her murder," her family said in a statement Monday afternoon. 

"We are deeply grateful to the District Attorney, investigators, police and victim advocates who have supported our family and are ensuring Maggie's killer is held responsible. We will have no further comment before tomorrow's court hearing and request that the media respect our family's privacy at this difficult time."

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