Julius Gitau, the Thika millionaire businessman who went missing on September 21, has resurfaced.
Gatanga Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) head John Kanda told a local newspaper that Gitau appeared as mysteriously as he had disappeared, and has been questioned at local DCI offices.
“We have spoken to him. He is alive. I always told you we were on top of this search and our leads were that it was immature to conclude he was dead,” Mr Kanda was quoted as saying.
Gitau, popularly known as “Gitau wa Mali” disappeared after asking his driver to pick his car near Blue Post Hotel, Thika. A “suicide note” was found on the car dashboard, leading to speculation that the millionaire had taken his own life.
There was speculation that Gitau wa Mali was facing financial challenges, leading to loss of hope and desperation.
Forged Suicide Note?
But Mr Kanda dismissed the said suicide note as a “forgery.”
“In our investigations regarding the missing, the moment you hit the second week without finding a body of the victim, the game changes to that of investigating a possibility of finding him or her alive than dead. This because it is easier to find a body than a lost person,” Mr Kanda was quoted by the Nation.
The polygamous father of 11 children (and husband to three women) is worth an estimated Ksh600 million. He coined his fortune from whole sale shops and commercial real estate, having started as a hawker on a Ksh100 pay day.
A vicious war for the control of this fortune has been brewing between his three wives. Reports indicate that the businesses had remained shut over the course of Gitau’s disappearance.
A Mother’s Plea
Three days ago, the businessman’s mother Rosemary Wanjiru, 69, vowed to go to State House, Nairobi, to seek audience with the President for assistance in finding his son.
“I want to pack my bedding and move to State House gates to wait for the president and plead with him to issue an order to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to get me my son,” she was quoted as saying.
“We are now past two months since my son was reported missing. The DCI is treating this case in a very casual manner and all I am being told through the press is that the case is still under investigation. I know if it was a big man’s son who had gone missing we would have known his whereabouts within hours…DCI here knows they are searching for a son of a poor aging and ailing single mother.”
