Kidnapped 3-year-old girl reunited with family a week later

Residents living at an estate in Pipeline, broke into jubilation as they welcomed the safe return of baby Michelle Kemunto, who went missing one week ago.

The three-year-old angel who disappeared on June 8, was yesterday reunited with her parents by our Embakasi based counterparts.

Baby Michelle, was kidnapped as she played with her friend Ashley, outside their house.

Their parents had left them to play as they went about their house chores, oblivious of the dangers that the babies had been exposed to.

All this while, a child predator was preying on the two little angels, waiting for the perfect time to strike.

When the opportunity came, Michelle disappeared in the blink of an eye.

According to Ruth Atieno, the good samaritan under whose care Michelle has been since her disappearance, a middle aged woman who was carrying two babies had approached her and asked her to hold one baby for her.

Atieno told our officers that the woman said she was going to pick up something at Mradi in Tassia and couldn’t make it with her two babies, at one go.

Atieno therefore agreed to stay with the baby for a while.In their conversation prior to being left with the baby, Atieno had told Michelle’s supposed mother that she earns a living through cleaning peoples houses and doing their laundry.

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The stranger then asked for Atieno’s phone number, promising to link her up with many of her friends who would be seeking her cleaning services.

Excited that her network and client base would grow, she gladly agreed to be left with baby Michelle. That was the last time Atieno saw the woman.

As she pondered her next move after hosting baby Michelle for 3-days, the woman called and informed her that she had been involved in a grisly road accident and had been admitted at Mbagathi Hospital in critical condition, that’s why she had not picked up her baby.

She requested Atieno to hand over the baby to another person, whom she was intending to send.

However, Atieno who had become jittery wouldn’t hear of it and insisted that she comes for the baby herself. After the call, Atieno accompanied by her neighbours, rushed to Tassia Police Post and filed a child neglect report.

All along, they believed that the baby belonged to the woman who had alleged to be in hospital and thought that she was only abdicating her parental responsibilities by leaving her.

Detectives based at Embakasi Police Station, immediately took up the matter and yesterday afternoon, baby Michelle was finally reunited with her parents, Hellen and Robert Ooko.

DCI sleuths are currently pursuing the female suspect, who is believed to be part of a larger syndicate behind the spate of child kidnappings, that have rocked parts of the country in recent months.