She Left Thika to Meet a Man She Had Known for Less Than Two Weeks — Two Days Later, Her Pink Handbag Was Found Beside Her Body
She left Thika on a Saturday afternoon with a simple plan: travel to Nakuru and meet a man she had known for less than two weeks.
She was 22 years old, a third-year university student with dreams of building a better future for herself and her mother.
She wore a green dress and carried her favourite pink handbag.
She never returned.
Two days later, Vivian Kajaya’s body was discovered in a maize plantation in Kiamunyi, Rongai Sub-County, Nakuru.
Her pink handbag was found nearby.
Inside were her identification documents and a bus receipt showing that she had travelled from Thika to Nakuru.
Her phone was missing.
The discovery brought a devastating end to a journey that had begun with excitement but quickly turned into a desperate struggle for help.
The man she barely knew
According to accounts from people close to Vivian, she had been communicating with a man for less than two weeks.
She reportedly described him to a close campus friend as wealthy and said he drove a Range Rover.
The two had previously met in Thika. During that meeting, they reportedly visited a hospital for an HIV test.
The man had also allegedly bought Vivian new clothes, groceries and given her cash. He later gave her a phone reportedly worth about KSh11,500.
But despite the gifts and attention, Vivian kept the man’s identity largely private.
Her friends later said she was not someone who casually introduced every man pursuing her. She had a longer-term boyfriend, who was away attending a burial in Meru at the time.
Then came October 12, 2024.
“Don’t go. You barely know him”
Around noon, Vivian left Thika.
A close friend tried to persuade her not to make the journey.
The warning was simple: she barely knew the man. She had no relatives in Nakuru. She did not even know exactly where she was going.
The friend offered to accompany her.
Vivian declined.
She had already made up her mind.
She boarded a 2NK matatu bound for Nakuru.
At about 5 p.m., she sent her friend a message confirming that she had arrived safely.
She promised to keep in touch and even offered to share her live location.
It was the last message the friend received from her.
The desperate phone calls
Later that evening, Vivian called another mutual friend.
This time, she sounded distressed.
She said she was stranded at the Nakuru bus station because the man had cancelled their plans.
She needed money to travel back to Nairobi.
Before her friends could arrange help, Vivian called again.
The man had arrived.
He had picked her up at around 5:30 p.m.
For a moment, her friends breathed a sigh of relief.
But the relief would not last.
Around 9 p.m., Vivian called a male friend.
She reportedly told him not to sleep and not to switch off his phone because she intended to return to Nairobi that night after an argument with the man.
Her friends prepared to meet her at the stage.
They waited.
The phone did not ring again.
Eventually, they assumed that Vivian and the man had resolved their disagreement.
They went to sleep.
They did not know that it would be the last night Vivian would ever see.
Sunday passed without a word
The following day, Vivian’s phone remained switched off.
Messages went unanswered.
Calls could not get through.
Concern quickly turned into fear.
On Monday, a friend reported her missing at Makongeni Police Station in Thika.
Then came the news no family wants to receive.
Reports and photographs began circulating on social media showing the body of an unidentified young woman discovered in a maize plantation in Kiamunyi, Rongai.
One detail immediately stood out.
The pink handbag.
It was the same bag Vivian had left Thika carrying.
Her friend recognized it.
The search for Vivian had ended in the worst possible way.
A body in the maize plantation
Locals discovered the body on October 14.
According to accounts surrounding the discovery, one man initially thought the young woman was simply resting after working on the farm.
When he approached, he realized she was dead.
Her handbag was found a short distance away.
Inside were her identification documents and the 2NK bus receipt linking her to the journey from Thika to Nakuru.
Her underwear had reportedly been removed and left beside her.
Her phone was nowhere to be found.
The evidence suggested that whatever had happened to Vivian occurred after she was picked up in Nakuru.
Her mother had no idea she had travelled
While Vivian’s body lay unidentified, her mother, Eunice Mideva, was in Kawangware selling roasted maize.
She had spoken to her daughter just days earlier.
During that conversation, Mideva had asked Vivian why she had not visited home for about six months.
Vivian reportedly explained that weekends were occupied with schoolwork and laundry and assured her mother that they would see each other soon.
Mideva had no idea that her daughter had travelled to Nakuru.
The family had no relatives there.
When she eventually went to the Nakuru City Mortuary and identified her daughter’s body, the reality became impossible to escape.
The daughter she had spoken to only days earlier was gone.
The post-mortem revealed a horrifying truth
A post-mortem examination was conducted on October 19 by government pathologist Titus Ngulungu.
The examination determined that Vivian died from manual strangulation.
There were marks around her neck, indicating that oxygen had been blocked.
The examination also documented sexual assault and indicated that her nose and mouth had been covered during the attack.
There were signs that she had struggled.
Samples were subsequently taken to the Government Chemist for further analysis.
The investigation
Police confirmed that the body belonged to Vivian Kajaya, the 22-year-old third-year social work student.
Investigators began reconstructing her final movements.
They sought to establish who she met, where she went after arriving in Nakuru and who had last been with her.
Her missing phone became an important part of the investigation.
Reports later indicated that detectives were pursuing a prime suspect linked to the man Vivian had travelled to meet. The suspect was reportedly believed to have left the area and possibly travelled towards Thika.
Witnesses were interviewed and statements recorded.
But as the weeks passed, public updates became increasingly scarce.
By December 2024, there had been no announced arrest in connection with Vivian’s death.
Her mother continued searching for answers.
Questions remained about the places Vivian and the man had reportedly visited, including a hotel in the Kiamunyi area and a hospital.
For her family, the unanswered questions were almost as painful as the loss itself.
The dreams that never came true
Vivian was not simply a name in a missing-person report.
She was a daughter.
She was a university student.
She was the firstborn in her family.
She had scored a C+ in KCSE and secured a government-sponsored place at Mount Kenya University.
She had started out living in a hostel before moving into a rented house.
And she had dreams.
Vivian had reportedly told her mother that one day she would establish a proper business so that the older woman would no longer have to stand in the rain selling roasted maize.
That dream was supposed to be her way of changing her family’s future.
Instead, her own future ended in a maize plantation hundreds of kilometres from the campus she had left that Saturday afternoon.
She had travelled to Nakuru to meet a man she had known for less than two weeks.
Her final messages suggested she was already frightened and wanted to return home.
Then her phone went silent.
Her pink handbag became one of the first clues to her fate.
And the question that remains is the one her family has carried ever since:
What really happened to Vivian Kajaya after she was picked up in Nakuru?
