A fugitive who escaped a police station in Kenya after being arrested over allegations that he killed his girlfriend and left her body in a car at Boston’s Logan airport last year pleaded not guilty to murder charges and was ordered held without bail.
Kevin Adam Kinyanjui Kangethe, 40, was wanted for allegedly killing his girlfriend, Margaret Mbitu, whose body was found in an SUV at Boston Logan International Airport on Oct. 31, 2023.
At the Suffolk Superior Court in Boston, Mbitu’s family and friends issued a statement following the judge’s rule.
“It has been a long journey coming. Today gives us hope and represents a step forward toward justice,” Mary Kinyariro, a cousin, announced, sharing the family’s statement. “We will continue to fight until this coward is locked up and never sees light again or gets to harm any other family and take their loved one away from them.”
Kevin Kangethe appears at the Mililani law court in Nairobi, Kenya, on Jan. 31, 2024. The Nairobi police chief said early Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024, that Kangethe, a murder suspect who was awaiting extradition to the United States, had slipped out of a police station cell and jumped into one of the privately owned minivans that are the main transportation source in Kenya. (AP Photo)
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said this was “just the beginning of a long road to justice” for Mbitu and her family.
“She was deeply loved, she was a caregiver, a nurse beloved by every patient that she served, a beautiful soul and a wonderful daughter and a loving sister,” Hayden said.
Kangethe departed Boston’s Logan airport on November 1, 2023 on a flight to Kenya, authorities say. (Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Prosecutors on Tuesday shared new details surrounding Mbitu’s death, saying that Kangethe “brutally attacked” her in the car with a knife.
The attack left 10 wounds to her face and neck, prosecutors said.
Mbitu was found in a parked car at Logan International Airport following her brutal murder, prosecutors previously said. She was found face down with the seat reclined, with the windows heavily tinted to make it hard to see inside.
Kevin Kangethe has been arrested in Kenya following the homicide in Boston late last year. (Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles/Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office)
Kangethe allegedly ditched the car and was on his way back to his home country by the time that authorities found the young nurse’s body.
Following the investigation into Mbitu’s death, American and Kenyan law enforcement searched for Kangethe. He was first found and arrested at a nightclub in Nairobi on Jan. 29.
On Feb. 8, he managed to escape a police station and jumped into a privately owned minivan.
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He was later found again and arrested and remained in Kenya until this past week when he was extradited back to the U.S.
He is scheduled to return to court on Nov. 5 for a pretrial hearing.
Fox News Greg Norman and The Asscociated Press contributed to this report.