After four years of studying for a degree in Business Administration at the Cooperative University and graduating in 2022, Emmanuel Omondi’s hard work finally paid off when he received an acceptance letter from a telecommunications company seven months later.
But the celebrations ended after he went missing at 2 a.m. on April 1 while out with friends at Hornbill Club in Ongata Rongai, where they were celebrating his new job offer that day.
According to witnesses, there was a confrontation between Emmanuel and other bar patrons after he fell and spilled the drinks of merrymakers at a nearby table. A scuffle ensued the bouncers removed Emmanuel from the nightclub.
Emmanuel Odhiambo’s friends last saw him before he went missing. His father, Julius Odhiambo, received a call from his daughter that Emmanuel was missing, and they rushed from Eldoret to Nairobi to search for him, but with no luck. They tried to contact Emmanuel’s friends, but could not get enough information, and his father did not believe the behavior they described matched his son’s character.
Nine days after Emmanuel went missing, disturbing news reached his family and friends. A body had been discovered in the septic tank of the Hornbill Club, where Emmanuel was last seen. The body was taken to City Mortuary where his relatives were called to make an identification.
Emmanuel Odhiambo’s family rushed from Eldoret to Nairobi to search for him after he went missing, but they could not get enough information. His father, Julius Odhiambo, said that the behavior described by Emmanuel’s friends could not be him as he does not drink. Emmanuel’s father and girlfriend said that the clothes and tattoos on the body found in the septic tank did not match Emmanuel’s, but the police officers handling the case insisted that a DNA test must be conducted to establish the body’s identity.
On Monday, 15 workers from the Hornbill Club appeared in court over Emmanuel’s disappearance, but they could not be remanded until the identity of the body found at the club was established through DNA testing.
