Jane Nduta: The mysterious woman inside Marathoner Samuel Wanjiru's bedroom

In a dramatic twist surrounding the tragic death of marathon legend Samuel Wanjiru, a woman was found inside the late athlete's bedroom, sparking fresh intrigues into the circumstances of his death.

The stunning revelation, which came during a public inquest into the athlete's death, raised new questions about what really happened that fateful night in May 2011.

The woman, Jane Nduta, who had been in Wanjiru's home hours before his untimely death, provided testimony that took the case in a completely new direction.

Nduta’s presence in the athlete’s bedroom had remained a mystery until she appeared in court on August 21, 2019, to share her version of the events. As her testimony unfolded before Milimani Magistrate Francis Andayi who initially handled the case, Nduta provided a chilling account of the final moments of one of Kenya's most celebrated marathoners.

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“I don't know how the marathoner Samuel Wanjiru died," Nduta said calmly while standing at the dock, her voice unwavering. Her statement was simple but powerful admission that has only deepened the mystery surrounding Wanjiru’s tragic demise.

May 15, 2011 began with what seemed like a typical night out. Wanjiru, who was known for his love of partying, and according to evidence tendered in court, show he had spent the evening socialising with friends at various pubs in Nyahururu.

After drinking heavily, he met Nduta, a light-skinned woman who worked as a waitress at Kawa Falls restaurant.

At this point the athlete was estranged from his second wife, Teresia alias Triza Njeri - who had been living in Ngong in Kajiando County. The woman, described her late lover as intoxicated when they met at around 11pm on May 14, 2011.

He ordered two fried eggs served by Joseph Okemwa at the hotel. After eating, they went to Jimrock Hotel, where they ordered meat and beers. From there, they headed to Kamau's house in Muthaiga Estate, Nyahururu, around midnight.

At the gate, Kamau got out of the car, spoke to the watchman, and they drove into the compound. Inside the house, Kamau turned on the TV. Soon, they went upstairs, and Kamau fell asleep.

But the night’s drama began to unfold when Wanjiru’s estranged wife, Triza, arrived at home with a family friend.

As she entered the bedroom, she was stunned to find a naked Nduta lying in her marital bed, with her husband deep in an alcohol-induced sleep.

She was furious, and the confrontation that followed only escalated the tension. Nduta testified that the exchange quickly became physical.

“When she (Triza) caught Wanjiru and me in bed, she tried to burn me with hot water. I, however, overpowered her, and scalded her with the water she was carrying. She, thereafter, bolted out of the room and locked the house’s main door from the outside,” Ms Nduta told the court.

With her husband still unconscious and unaware of the escalating tension, Teresia stormed out of the house, instructing the watchman to hand over the spare keys to the house and gate.

Nduta revealed that Triza had no conversation with Wanjiru and simply left the premises after locking the door.

Nduta testified that she immediately woke Wanjiru, and he instructed her to dress and go into the children's room, which was also upstairs.

Wanjiru, allegedly in a vulnerable state, begged Triza to return and open the gate. 

After some time, when things seemed to calm down, Nduta went downstairs. She then noticed that Wanjru was no longer in the bedroom.

Looking over the balcony, she saw, the watchman who informed her that Wanjiru had jumped from the second-floor balcony.

“I looked down and saw Kamau (Wanjiru) lying on the ground, blood oozing from his mouth and nose,” Nduta testified, recounting the horrific moment.

Later on, the police arrived, broke the door, and took her into custody. Despite her arrest, Nduta insisted she had no idea how Wanjiru ended up outside the house, nor did she believe it was anything more than an accident.

In her testimony, Triza, who had separated from Wanjiru earlier in 2011, confirmed before the court that she found a strange lady stark naked in her matrimonial bed with her husband.

The star athlete was stone drunk and dead asleep. Triza, the mother to Wanjiru's two kids, downplayed this encounter, saying she exchanged a few words with Nduta.

"I do not know what exactly caused the death of Kamau since I was not in the compound at the time," said Triza.

Triza, while narrating the final moments she shared with her late husband, told Milimani Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi that on May 15, 2015, when she arrived home around 11pm, she had an altercation with another woman she found in their bedroom, lying with Wanjiru.

She informed the court that when the woman grabbed her by the neck, questioning what she was doing there, Wanjiru was still asleep and did not say a word to her.

"I then went straight to our bedroom, and immediately a lady came out of our matrimonial bed and told me she was Wanjiru's wife and wanted to know who I was. I told her I was Wanjiru's wife," said Triza.

"She grabbed me by the collar, but I asked her to let me go, and I left them inside while Kamau (Wanjiru) slept. I locked the corridor door with a padlock and called the local OCS for assistance to prevent a recurrence of what had happened before, when Wanjiru had threatened to kill me with a gun," said Triza.

She continued, explaining that after the altercation, she left the bedroom and asked the watchman for the keys to the house and the gate.

Triza further testified that as she stood at the gate, she saw Kamau on the balcony of the house, where he asked her to hand over the keys.

Tiza declined, explaining that if he caught up with her, he might hurt her.

Adding more layers to the mystery, Wanjiru’s mother, Hannah Wanjiru, openly criticised the official narrative of her son’s death.

In her testimony, Hannah revealed that security footage from the night of his death contradicted several key details in the accounts of Nduta, Triza and the watchman.

According to Hannah, the CCTV footage clearly showed Wanjiru arriving home at around 9:40pm hours before Triza's arrival, and without the company of any woman, despite claims that he had been accompanied by Nduta.

"The footage shows my son arrived alone," Hannah asserted, adding that it contradicted the testimony of the watchman, who stated that Wanjiru arrived late, past midnight, with Nduta by his side.

But the discrepancies didn’t end there. Hannah also revealed that the footage showed Teresia arriving at the house 18 minutes after Wanjiru had arrived, entering the compound through a small gate, and then heading straight inside.

Two minutes later, a second woman presumably Nduta entered the compound. "Two minutes later, the footage shows another woman entering the compound, and immediately after, the lights go off," the late Wanjiru’s mother stated.

In a more damning twist, Hannah informed the court that Triza had separated with her son in 2011 and moved out of their matrimonial home and was living in Ngong and only came back to Nyahuhuru two weeks before the marathoner died.

"Triza came back to Nyahururu seeking birth certificates of her two children from the late Kamau (Wanjiru)," Hannah said.

Three days after the death, Hannah added that Triza and lawyer James Ndegwa Wahome travelled to Nairobi to the registrar of persons to change the names of Triza in her identity card, to facilitate the sale of the deceased's millions worth of property.

Was the death of Samuel Wanjiru a tragic accident, or does the truth lie buried in a web of lies, deceit, and betrayal?