A 40-year-old Lowell man accused of killing a woman from Whitman last year was arrested in Kenya on Monday, officials announced.
The Suffolk County District Attorney’s office said authorities began investigating on Nov. 1 after state troopers found 31-year-old Margaret Mbitu dead in a car in the Central Parking Garage at Logan International Airport.
Investigators soon identified Kevin Kangethe as a suspect in Mbitu’s death and determined he had boarded a flight to Kenya, the DA’s office said.
Nearly three months after Mbitu’s body was found, Massachusetts State Police said Kenyan authorities arrested Kangethe at a nightclub in Nairobi.
“Their cooperative effort ensured that Kangethe will be extradited to Boston to face justice for Ms. Mbitu’s killing,” state police said.
Family members said they reported Mbitu missing after she did not show up for work at her job as a nurse in Halifax.
Officials confirmed Mbitu was the subject of a missing person investigation.
State police said she and Kangethe “had been in a relationship.”
As their investigation got underway, state police said detectives began working with personnel at the US State Department, Interpol and various Kenyan agencies to find Kangathe.
Kenyan officials ultimately tracked Kangathe, according to state police, while state and federal authorities in the US coordinated his arrest.
“I’m extremely grateful to the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, the FBI, Kenyan law enforcement agencies, the Kenyan government and the Massachusetts State Police for bringing the person accused of Margaret Mbitu’s brutal murder into custody,” Hayden said in a statement Tuesday. “Their tremendous and untiring efforts will provide Margaret’s family and friends the opportunity to see Kevin Kangethe face justice for this terrible crime.”
The US Embassy in Nairobi also addressed Kangethe’s arrest in a statement, saying it “commends the efforts of Kenyan law enforcement” to apprehend Kangethe.
The embassy said US law enforcement worked side by side with the Kenyan Directorate of Criminal Investigations and the Kenyan Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in this investigation adding, “The United States and Kenya are committed to strengthening law enforcement cooperation to apprehend criminal offenders, eliminate criminal activities, and advance justice.”
Mbitu left behind a mother, father, sister and brother, along with other relatives and friends.
Several loved ones publicly mourned Mbitu in the wake of her death, remembering her as a “lovely, soft-spoken, beautiful, happy, go lucky kind of girl” and calling for justice as authorities searched for Kangethe.
“We are overjoyed by the news of the capture of Maggie’s murder suspect,” Mbitu’s family said in a new statement this week. “The long hand of the law is finally catching up with Maggie’s murder suspect.”
“…We are confident that the truth will prevail and that justice for Maggie will be achieved,” the family continued.
Now in custody, state police said Kangethe is expected to appear at a preliminary court hearing in Kenya “within the next few days” as his extradition process gets underway.
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