Kenyan wanted for murdering his girlfriend here is re-arrested in Kenya after escape

The Nairobi News reports Kenyan police have re-arrested Kevin Kangethe, wanted for murdering Margaret Mbitu, driving her body to Logan and then leaving it in the car there as he flew to Nairobi last November.

Kangethe, initially arrested at a Nairobi nightclub last month, walked out of the jail where he was being held pending extradition last week. The News reports that, acting on a tip, police found Kangethe yesterday in his cousin's house in Ngong, a suburb of Nairobi.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports that Kangethe is now being held in a maximum-security prison, so less likely to be able to just saunter out again.

District Attorney Kevin Hayden said he is hoping Kangethe will soon be returned to Boston to face arraignment and trial:

With this suspect’s recapture we are once again on track to seek justice for Margaret Mbitu and her family. It is our hope that Kevin Kangethe’s return to Boston will proceed in a timely manner and without further incident.

Separately, a judge in federal court in Boston last week unsealed the documents in which the FBI requested permission to formally arrest Kangethe as a fugitive from justice and to return him here.

In an affidavit, an FBI agent describes how they were able to find Mbitu's body in Kangethe's Toyota Venza, left in Logan's Central Parking relatively quickly.

Her father and a friend called police in Whitman, where the Curry College graduate lived, to report her missing on Oct. 30 - and told them she might be driving Kangethe's car. Police then checked a statewide database that records the license plates of cars that pass certain government-run cameras:

A query through the statewide License Plate Reader ("LPR") databases revealed that the Toyota Venza bearing Massachusetts registration 2JGN91 was last observed on a LPR at approximately 6:36 p.m. on October 31, 2023 in the area of Boston Logan International Airport ("Logan Airport"). Further examination of LPR data indicated that the vehicle was located in the Central Parking Garage at Logan Airport. Massachusetts State Police Troopers found the vehicle within the Central Parking Garage. Mbitu’s body was in the front passenger seat, covered by a number of jackets. An examination of Mbitu’s body revealed large slash wounds in her face and neck area (under her chin) and a puncture wound to her side. A large amount of blood was also found in the vehicle.

The affidavit continues:

Investigators learned that, on the morning of October 31, 2023, KANGETHE purchased a one-way airline ticket to Nairobi, Kenya. Surveillance footage from the Central Parking Garage showed KANGETHE's vehicle enter the garage and, moments later, KANGETHE leave the garage. KANGETHE was then seen on surveillance footage entering the Logan Airport terminal.

United States Customs and Border Patrol confirmed that KANGETHE left the United States on October 31, 2023. Kenyan law enforcement confirmed that KANGETHE entered Kenya on November 1, 2023.

: Her father and a friend called police in Whitman, where the Curry College graduate lived, to report her missing on Oct. 30. They said she might be driving Kangethe's car. Police obtained her cell-phone records