Joseph Kori, widower of the late Mary Wambui, on Thursday was enjoying his freedom as he walked out of a police cell after having been detained for three weeks.
Kori was released by the DCI Homicide Unit after investigators looking into the case failed to link him to Wambui’s murder.
Kori, together with Judy Wangui, a former employee of Wambui, and taxi driver Michael Mathenge were linked to Wambui’s murder.
Wambui went missing on January 26 and her remains recovered the next day in Juja.
According to officers investigating the matter, Wambui had allegedly left her Safari Park Gardens house for Kahawa Sukari, where she owned a hardware store.
Preliminary police reports indicated she had sustained a serious injury in the head inflicted with a blunt object and her hands suffered multiple bruises.
After conducting oral and forensic investigations and analyzing Kori’s cellphone data, investigators were convinced that Kori, 41, was not involved in either the planning or execution of Wambui.
Wangui remains in custody and the investigators have sought more time to interrogate her, believing that Wambui died after a fistfight with Wangui whom she accused of having a love affair with her husband Kori.
Kori convincingly told the police that he had been visiting with friends in Ngong the day his wife was reportedly killed, something that forensic investigators confirmed.
According to the police, there was no any red flag in Kori’s cellphone, but what caught their eye was his text message that he sent Wambui after he got home at around 10pm and she was still not home. He sent a text message to Wambui’s cell phone telling her to spend the night where she was.
The text message would later turn out to be useful in the investigation. Police relied on it during interrogations.
Kori explained that it was an innocent message and he did not know his wife had been murdered.