A Massachusetts grand jury has indicted on a murder charge the Lowell man who is accused of killing his girlfriend, leaving her body at Boston Logan International Airport and fleeing to Kenya — where he remained as of Tuesday, despite having been slated for an extradition hearing.
Kevin Kangethe was wanted for months after the body of Margaret Mbitu was found in a car parked at a garage at the airport on Nov. 1. He was arrested in Kenya, then escape police custody, only to be recaptured last week.
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But at his extradition hearing in a Nairobi court Tuesday, Kangethe said he'd dropped his lawyers and wanted time to find a new one, according to African news site Nation. He was due back in court on Friday with no movement on his extradition to the U.S.
Prosecutors in Boston said Tuesday that they expected the extradition to take place within weeks.
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"Suffice it to say, this has been a custody process with many twists and turns," Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in a statement. "Along with Margaret Mbitu’s family and friends, we are hoping that the extradition process proceeds in a smooth and timely manner."
He continued that Tuesday's murder indictment from the grand jury "makes clear that upon his return to Boston Kevin Kangethe will answer in Superior Court for the brutal killing of Maggie Mbitu, a nurse who cared deeply about so many and who was deeply loved by many in return."
Kangethe's indictment by a grand jury moves the case from district court to Suffolk Superior Court.
Massachusetts State Police said in early November that Kangethe had left her body in a car at Logan airport and boarded a flight to Kenya. Massachusetts officials said they were working with Kenyan authorities to locate him, and he was arrested in a nightclub on Jan. 30 after being on the run for three months.
A police official told The Associated Press that Kangethe said he had renounced his U.S. citizenship. The police official, who insisted on anonymity in order speak freely about an ongoing investigation, said if Kangethe were an American citizen he would have been repatriated without a court process.
Mbitu, a health care aide in Halifax, was last seen leaving work Oct. 30 and reported missing by her family. The preliminary investigation showed Mbitu had left her workplace and traveled with Kangethe to Lowell, where he lived, the prosecution said.
