Detectives have arrested two suspects, a woman and her son, in connection with the killing of clinical psychologist and mental health researcher Dr Victoria Nthunya Mutiso, who was shot dead in an execution-style attack in Nairobi’s Upperhill area on Wednesday.
The pair were picked up on Thursday and are currently being interrogated as investigators work to establish a motive behind a killing that has unsettled Kenya’s medical and research community. Police believe Dr Mutiso was deliberately targeted in a carefully planned assassination.
According to investigators, Dr Mutiso had booked a taxi from Tanga Heights Apartments on Bamboo Lane, off Riara Road, bound for the offices of the Africa Institute of Mental and Brain Health at Mawensi Gardens, off Matumbato Road.
Partway through the journey, a black Toyota Prado partially blocked the road, forcing the taxi to slow down. A gunman armed with a pistol then approached the rear left side of the vehicle, where Dr Mutiso was seated, and opened fire before fleeing.
Investigators believe the attackers had trailed her from her home near the Junction area of Kilimani before the ambush. She was rushed to hospital with critical gunshot wounds but was pronounced dead on arrival. A spent cartridge recovered from the scene has been submitted for ballistic analysis.
Police have confirmed that Dr Mutiso had previously reported a threat to her life at Kilimani Police Station, after armed men on a motorcycle allegedly pointed a gun at her while she was stuck in traffic. That case remained under investigation at the time of her death.
Detectives are now examining whether the shooting bears any connection to a separate incident reported along Magadi Road last year. They are also looking into a reported family dispute over property as a possible motive, alongside the earlier threat allegations. A separate team of detectives returned to Dr Mutiso’s home on Thursday to interview family members as the investigation intensified.
Dr Mutiso, a mother of two, was due to be married within the week. She was the second wife of a prominent Kenyan psychiatrist and University of Nairobi professor of psychiatry.
She served as Head of Research at the Africa Mental Health Research and Training Foundation, where her work centred on youth mental health, substance abuse, and integrating mental health services into community healthcare.
She also specialised in child and adolescent mental health, developing interventions for underserved urban and rural communities, and co-led an international research programme on homelessness and severe mental illness in Africa.
Investigations remain ongoing, with detectives yet to disclose whether the two suspects in custody have any established link to the shooting itself.
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