Authorities have confirmed that the body of Peris Mugera, a political commentator and blogger in Tharaka Nithi County, has been found in Kirinyaga County.

Family members of the deceased accompanying Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers from Tharaka Nithi County on Friday, March 8, 2024, confirmed that the body was Mugera’s.

This is after images surfaced on the internet showing the body of a female adult lying dead in Kirinyaga County.

The incident was first reported at Rukanga police station by members of the public on March 1, 2024, where they informed the officers of an unknown body of a female adult lying along the Sagana-Makutano Highway.

According to police reports, the body was found with bruises on the forehead.

“It was reported today at 0800hrs that along Makutano-Sagana highway there was a body of an unknown female adult lying on the road. Police officers led by OCS Kiamaciri police station, DCI officers and CSI from Kerugoya rushed to the scene and confirmed that the body of an unknown female adult aged approximately 30 years was found lying dead on the roadside," the police report noted.

"The deceased has some bruises on the forehead. She was dressed in black tight leather trousers and red canvas shoes. The scene was documented and fingerprints were taken for the identification process. The body was removed and taken to Kerugoya mortuary awaiting post-mortem and identification.”

Mugera went missing on February 29, 2024, and her family members and friends reported her missing on March 4, 2024, at Chuka police station, Tharaka Nithi County.

Tharaka Nithi County Commissioner, Wesley Koech in a media briefing, asked members of the family and residents to remain calm as investigations go on, saying that they couldn’t immediately establish what led to Mugera’s death.

“This morning, we sent our DCI officers together with the family members to Kerugoya and the family has identified the body and confirmed that it is Peris Mugera. The photos and posts doing rounds on social media this morning were indeed posted on the 1st of March, meaning that Mugera might have met her death between the 29th and 1st of March, 2024. We can’t tell the cause of her death at the moment but investigations are still ongoing,” he said.

Peris Mugera is said to have left home on February 29, to meet a friend before going to work but did not return. Her two children aged 15 and six raised the alarm on Saturday, March 2, 2024, after their mother failed to return and informed the landlord who informed Mugera’s friends.

Police investigations revealed that her phone was switched off at Kathoge, in Kirinyaga County at 2 am on Friday, March 1.

Mugera was a chief strategist and campaign planner for the late Felix Gitari Mbiuki, a former Machakos County Assembly clerk and gubernatorial aspirant in Tharaka Nithi County who was found dead on July 18, 2023, along Mati Road in Kanganga Village, Embu County.