Daily Times

NAIROBI: The husband of Kenyan distance running star Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in a killing that has shocked her home country and the world of athletics, was being held in custody on Friday after a dramatic late-night arrest. Emmanuel Rotich was detained in the coastal city of Mombasa on Thursday and police said he was the “prime suspect” in the murder of the 25-year-old double world championship medallist at their home in Iten in western Kenya. Rotich, said by police to be aged about 41, had been expected to appear in court on Friday, but by late afternoon he was still at a Mombasa police station as officials apparently work out where the case against him should be held.
“He had fled from Iten where he is suspected to have committed the offence… At the time of the arrest, he was with one of his friends who is also in custody,” local police commander David Mathiu told a press conference. “An investigation is going on… and the suspect will be arraigned in court soon.” Police cornered Rotich in Mombasa, using his mobile number to track him down after he used his old SIM card in his new phone after spending days offline, one of the investigating officers said. Tributes have poured in for Tirop since her body was found with stab wounds in the bedroom of their home in Iten, a high-altitude training hub in western Kenya for many top-class athletes. Athletics Kenya said it was postponing events for two weeks in honour of Tirop and another runner who was found dead at the weekend of an apparent suicide. Tirop was killed just a month after she smashed the women-only 10 kilometres world record in Germany.