A suspect who fled the U.S. after allegedly killing his girlfriend and leaving her body in a parking garage at Boston’s Logan Airport last year has been arrested in Kenya, the Massachusetts State Police say.
Kevin Kangethe, 41, was taken into custody at a nightclub in Nairobi on Monday after Kenyan authorities received a tip, according to The Associated Press. Kangethe is now expected to be extradited back to the U.S. to face justice.
"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," Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden said following the arrest.
"We had been keeping tabs on him while the international coordination of the arrest warrant and apprehension plan was being completed," added Massachusetts State Police spokesperson David Procopio.
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Mbitu, a resident of Whitman, Massachusetts, was first the subject of a missing person investigation before she was found dead on Nov. 1 at Logan Airport.
"Kangethe fled to Kenya shortly after killing the 31-year-old Whitman resident, with whom he had been in a relationship, according to the investigation by State Police detectives," Massachusetts State Police said in a statement. "Ms. Mbitu's body was located in a parked car in the Central Parking garage at Logan International Airport on the evening of November 1, 2023."
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"The subsequent investigation identified Kangethe, who lived in Lowell, as Ms. Mbitu's assailant and determined that he had boarded a flight to Kenya," police added. "State Police Detectives obtained a warrant charging Kangethe with Ms. Mbitu’s homicide and began working with the State Department DSS, Interpol, and Kenyan authorities to locate him in Kenya."
State Police also said Kangethe is expected to appear in a court hearing in Kenya "within the next few days" and "the process to extradite him to Boston for prosecution has begun."
The U.S. Embassy also commended the efforts of Kenyan law enforcement in arresting the fugitive.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
