Detectives have arrested a man suspected of stabbing a senior police officer to death during a raid on an illicit alcohol den in Rumuruti, Laikipia County. The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said Onesmas Kipkoech Tiony was picked up on Saturday, November 14. The Daily Nation reported that he had been on the run for two years and nine months.
Homicide detectives, DCI Laikipia West and officers from Rumuruti Police Station carried out the joint operation. The DCI said investigators used intelligence leads and forensic analysis to narrow down his hiding place. They then raided the hideout and arrested him. Detectives also recovered a motorcycle they believe he used to escape after the killing. Police are holding it as an exhibit.
"Yesterday, 14 November 2026, the painstaking investigations paid off," the DCI said in a statement quoted by Capital FM and Kenyans.co.ke. The agency said the raid brought "his prolonged flight from justice to an end".
Tiony is accused of killing Inspector Prosper Ojiambo Wandera, then Deputy Officer Commanding Rumuruti Police Station. The officer died on February 16, 2024, in the Maundu Ni Meri area of Rumuruti Town. According to the DCI, he was found lying in a pool of blood. He had a stab wound to the left side of his chest.
At the time, Laikipia County Police Commander John Nyoike said Wandera had received a tip that jerricans of chang'aa were about to reach a drinking den. The Nation reported that he rode a boda boda alone from Rumuruti town to the den, which belonged to Jackline Lepere. Nyoike said the officer met the suspect as he was delivering 20 litres of the brew. The boda boda rider later alerted police that his passenger had been stabbed after a confrontation.
The attacker fled at once, leaving behind a 20-litre jerrican of chang'aa, the Nation reported. Wandera's body was taken to St Benedict Hospital mortuary in Nyahururu.
Tiony remains in police custody. Detectives are completing investigations and processing before he is taken to court.