Joy Ndunge Mutisya left home with a simple explanation for her husband: she was going to Kitengela in search of work.
Her husband, James Mutisya, had no reason to suspect anything unusual.
He remained behind in Machakos with their two children — one in Form Three and the other in Grade Six — believing that his wife was chasing an opportunity that would help support their family.
But Joy was not in Kitengela.
She had travelled to Kanyonyoo, where she was headed to meet a man she had allegedly been seeing secretly.
That man was Police Constable Bernard Siambe.
On the night of Sunday, Siambe was supposed to be at work at the report office of Kanyonyoo Police Station. He had been issued with an AK-47 rifle and 30 rounds of ammunition.
Instead, he left his post and walked into Password Bar.
Inside, he found Joy drinking with a friend.
What began as a confrontation quickly descended into violence.
Witnesses said an argument erupted between Joy and Siambe, with tempers rising rapidly. At some point, Joy ran from the bar, desperately seeking safety.
She made it to a nearby house belonging to her friend, Jane Ndanu.
But Siambe followed her.
According to witness Stanley Kiilu, Jane tried to intervene, pleading with the armed officer not to shoot.
Her pleas failed.
Siambe allegedly opened fire, shooting Joy and Jane multiple times.
The quiet of the night was shattered by gunshots as the two women fell.
Their bodies were later taken to the Kitui Level Five Hospital mortuary, while spent cartridges were recovered from the scene.
For Joy’s family, the horror was only beginning.
When her father-in-law, Jonathan Waema, saw her body, the extent of the injuries left him struggling to comprehend the brutality of the attack.
He reportedly questioned whether Siambe had received proper firearms training, given the number of times Joy had been shot.
But by then, the officer had disappeared.
Siambe fled on foot, disappearing into the darkness and heading towards Matuu.
However, before vanishing completely, he reportedly contacted his Officer Commanding Station (OCS) and revealed where he had abandoned the murder weapon.
Police officers searched a thicket near the Matuu road and recovered the AK-47.
Twenty-six rounds of ammunition were still in the magazine.
The discovery confirmed the chilling reality of what had happened: a police firearm issued for official duty had allegedly been used in a deadly confrontation.
Kitui Police Commander Martha Nge’tich confirmed that the officer had quarrelled with his girlfriend shortly before the killings.
A massive manhunt was launched for Siambe.
But the search did not immediately yield results.
For Joy’s family, another painful truth emerged after her death.
Her sister said she only knew the man as Benard. She had never met him and apparently had no idea of the relationship between the two.
Joy had left her husband believing she was travelling to Kitengela for work.
Instead, she had travelled to Kanyonyoo to meet the man she had allegedly been secretly seeing.
Then came another haunting detail.
Days before her death, Joy had posted on Facebook, asking that her eulogy record be left 35 times.
At the time, nobody could have imagined how chilling those words would become.
Her family would later discover the truth only after the gunshots had stopped and Joy was gone.
She had not gone to Kitengela.
She had gone to meet a police officer.
And that secret meeting would end with two women dead, a police rifle abandoned in a thicket, a family left grieving and an armed officer disappearing into the bush.
As of early August 2025, reports indicated that Bernard Siambe remained at large, leaving Joy’s family with one agonising question: Where was the man who took away their daughter, wife and mother?
