The body of the missing teacher found buried inside a concrete coffin in his house
The body of a teacher who reportedly went missing on December 22, 2022, was found buried in a concrete coffin inside his home in Ihururu village, Nyeri County, Kenya.
Police retrieved the body of Joseph Gathogo (45), a teacher at Muhoya Secondary school, from the Ihururu Shopping Centre rental house on Thursday, January 12, 2023.
The teacher is believed to have placed himself inside a coffin he reportedly made after which he ingested an identified poison.
Near the boat-like structure was a bouquet of flowers, a black flag, scrolls in strange writings, and a cow’s horn.
Joseph Gathogo Njambi’s body, aged 45, was found by his landlord in a single-roomed home. It was enclosed in a concrete coffin with plywood and a black flag.
According to his landlord Kariuki Njama, Gathogo, who had been his tenant for 19 years, was last seen on December 19, 2022.
“We last saw Gathogo on December 19, last month, his phone was off. I thought he had gone home for Christmas break until his mother came looking for him on January 1,” he noted.
Njama reported the case of his missing tenant to the Ihururu police post when they still could not trace him.
As days went on he became suspicious of the tenant’s house after fellow tenants spoke about a foul smell coming out of Gathogo’s house and immediately reported the matter to the police.
“The police came and after breaking into the house they found a concrete coffin with the deceased decomposing body. There was also an assortment of chemicals.
Hundreds of curious residents milled the area to catch glimpse of the homemade coffin. The smell of the unknown poison which he had swallowed was evident.
