A grieving mother from Meru County has recounted a harrowing ordeal after allegedly discovering that her estranged husband secretly buried their three children who died in a road accident, without informing or involving her.
Frida Kanana Kithinji said the tragic deaths of her sons—Walter, 18, Humphrey, 11, and Prince, 7—occurred while they were travelling back to their father’s home in Bungoma County. The children had visited her in Meru following the death of her own mother. The accident, which happened in the evening, claimed all three lives on the spot. Kanana described her last conversation with her eldest son as her final memory of them alive.
Kanana and her husband, Samson, had been in a troubled marriage for 14 years, which ended in separation, though they continued co-parenting their children. She said that after the accident, disagreements over burial arrangements arose, compounded by cultural obligations and fines, delaying the release of the bodies from the mortuary.
The mother revealed that she had obtained a court order preventing the burial until disputes were resolved. Despite this, she alleges that her husband and his relatives took the children’s bodies from the mortuary on January 5, 2026, and buried them the following day without notifying her. Kanana said she only learned of the burial after the fact, leaving her devastated and feeling excluded from her children’s final rites.
“The experience has been extremely painful. It denied me the opportunity to mourn and give my children a proper send-off,” Kanana said, noting that the ordeal has deeply affected her emotional and mental wellbeing, leaving her struggling with sleep.
The case has sparked nationwide attention, with Kenyans expressing sympathy and urging authorities to investigate the alleged secret burial. Many have called for parental rights and legal procedures to be respected in cases of child burial arrangements, highlighting the need for justice for grieving families.
Authorities have confirmed that the matter has been reported and is under investigation.
