Kenyan Man Kills Wife, 2 children in Minnesota

Authorities retieve bodies of dead Kenyans from an apartment in Minessota. pic by John Doman (Pioneer Press)

    Another bizarre development in the Kenyan community in the United States ocurred on wednesday this week when a man, Justus Ogendi Kebabe, 43, admitted to killing his wife and two children in Minnesota, before being apprehended by the police in a highway after he ran out of gas.

According to media reports, the body of the mother, Bilha Omare, 32 was found in the bathroom, while those of their two children, Ivyn Ogendi, 9, and Kinley Ogendi, 12, were found in another room.  Investigators do not know how long the bodies had been dead but it appeared to be many days.

  “It's possible the kids were killed earlier in the week, but the mother may have been dead before the children”, Sheriff Bob Fletcher said at a press briefing as reported by the Twin Cities Pioneer Press website.

 “The woman had not been to work this week. The children had been reported sick and were not in school this week”, said the sheriff.

However, as investigators sent out alerts for the search of the missing husband and child, another Minesotta state State Patrol trooper took a call for a car that was blocking the higway, then arrested Kebabe about 10:30 p.m. along Interstate 35, for behaving erratically after his car ran out of Gas .

 A   concerned woman had helped Kebabe push his car to the side of the road before the police arrived, but when Kebabe saw the police coming, he took off but was caught immediately.

Kebabe was booked into the Rice County Jail on suspicion of impaired driving but the  police soon realized that he had not drank but was acting erratically, arousing suspicion for something else gone wrong.
The child he had in the car was handed over to child protective services.

Justus Ogendi Kebabe, 43, and his now dead wife, Bilha Omare, 32 . Pic courtesy of Pioneer press

It was while Kebabe was being processed at the jail that an alert went out that Ramsey County authorities were looking for Kebabe in connection with the murders at his apartment, confirming the trooper’s suspicions about his erratic behavior.

According to reports from the Nation newspaprs in Kenya, Kebabe's relative, John Lister Onyango calling from New Jersey, said that   Kebabe had confided in him about the frustrations of a strained relationship with his wife, and therefore Onyango was concerned that Kebabe would commit suicide and harm the children.

“If I kill myself, I want you to know why I did it,” he had confided.

Reports said that Kebabe had complained that after bringing his wife to the US and she had started “disrespecting him”, and believed she was involved romantically with someone else and could not stand it.

“This is really terrible. Domestic violence is hurting everybody in the Kenyan community. It is hurting women, men and now children”, said Purity Ruchugo  of the upcoming Sister2Sister International Outreach ministry from North Carolina on a telephone call to Ajabu Africa News.

 Sister2Sister is a Christian charitable organization that seeks to educate women on issues pertaining to healthy relationships in marriage.

 Ruchugo added that “it is about time that we as Kenyans must realize that we must talk about the intimate problems we are facing in relationships in America in a way that people can get help to deal with such situations that are leading to the recurring violence and deaths in our community”, added the devastated lady who has been running the organization that will be officially launched next month.

Murded children, Kinley Ogendi, 12 and Ivyn Ogendi, 9

 The Killings in Minnesota follow another brutal murder of a wife by a Kenyan in Kansas, who   subsequently committed suicide. The Kansas couple was reportedly going through the process of divorce. Three more domestic murders have also taken place recently in the Kenyan community across the US.

According to the Twin Cities news website, Ogendi Kebabe had been arrested for misdemeanor domestic assault against his wife in the same apartment in December 2008. The case involved "a physical pushing assault," Fletcher said. Kebabe pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in the case, Fletcher said.

"I would plead with anybody who is suffering, even a small bit in a home where there's domestic violence, to please reach out for help," said Vadnais Heights Mayor Sue Banovetz while taking to the press about the   Minnesota murders this week.

Schools in the White Bear Lake Area School district where the couple’s children were attending have been closed until Monday to allow for parent-teacher conferences and providing support to students from the area.

The sheriff said that with young children slain, "It would be tough to imagine a tragedy as bad as this one”, reported the Twin City news website.


Read or post comments here >>

Full Original details : Pioneer Press
Kebabe: Officially charged today

Other top Ajabu News
Kenyan Man Shot in Iowa
Dialing Back Resume Blackness
Another Kenyan Man Kills Wife in Kansas, Commits Suicide
Kenya Diaspora Investment Conference set for Next week
Twenty nine new American citizens to be sworn in East Boston, 2012 Diversity Visa Program Now Open
Ugandans Swear Not To Watch Artist Chameleon Again
Mass. Human Services Co. Raises $10,500 for Kenyan Special School
UNHCR Nominates Representative to EAC
Gov. Patrick Praises Africans, asks for their votes

Photo Gallery

AjabuTV

Back to Home page