The search for missing Kenya Forest Service (KFS) Legal Services Manager Esther Wairimu Keige has ended tragically after her body was discovered in a coffee plantation in Juja, Kiambu County, nearly a month after she disappeared.

The 54-year-old advocate, who was last seen on June 10 after leaving her office along Kiambu Road, had been the subject of a nationwide search involving her family, colleagues, the Kenya Forest Service, and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK). Both KFS and LSK had appealed to the public for information on her whereabouts after she was reported missing.

According to Isaac Kombo, Juja Sub-County Police Commander, Wairimu’s body was found in an isolated coffee farm in the Area 4 locality near Karimenu. Family members who visited the scene positively identified the remains.

Police said the body was intact but had already begun decomposing. It has since been transferred to the Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital mortuary, where a post-mortem examination will be conducted to establish the cause of death.

Investigators have also revealed that students from a nearby school told officers they had recently seen Wairimu alive. According to their statements, she had reportedly approached the school seeking assistance in getting food before she later died. Authorities are now working to verify the information as part of ongoing investigations.

Police, on the other side have begun recording statements from members of Wairimu’s family and other individuals close to her to establish the circumstances leading to her disappearance and death, including her state of mind in the days before she went missing.

Before her disappearance, Wairimu served as the Manager of Legal Services at the Kenya Forest Service and had over two decades of experience in the legal profession.