The grim discovery of an unidentified woman’s body along the busy highway has triggered a homicide investigation, raising fresh fears over safety and crime in Makueni County.

A somber mood has engulfed the residents of Mukaa after the lifeless body of a middle-aged woman was found dumped by the roadside in the early hours of Friday. The incident, which police describe as a probable murder, adds to a worrying statistic of unexplained deaths along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway, turning the transport corridor into what locals fear is a dumping ground for victims of crime committed elsewhere.

A Scene of Despair

Witnesses who stumbled upon the scene described a chilling sight. The woman, whose identity remains unknown, was found lying in a bushy thicket just meters from the tarmac.Preliminary observations suggest she may have been killed at a different location before her body was transported and discarded under the cover of darkness. "It is terrifying," said a local boda boda operator who was among the first at the scene. "We passed here last night and saw nothing. Whoever did this knew exactly when the road would be quiet."

• Police Response: Officers from the local station have cordoned off the area and dusted for fingerprints. The body has been moved to the local mortuary awaiting a post-mortem examination to determine the exact cause of death.
• Community Outcry: Leaders in Makueni are now calling for increased police patrols and the installation of streetlights along the notorious dark spots of the highway.

The Highway of Shadows

This incident is not isolated. The stretch of road passing through Mukaa has, in recent years, become a hotspot for criminal activities, ranging from carjackings to the disposal of bodies. Security analysts point to the vast, unlit stretches of the highway as a major vulnerability. The lack of surveillance cameras and the sparse population density in certain sections provide a cloak of invisibility for perpetrators.

As investigations commence, the detectives face the arduous task of identifying the victim. Without identification documents found at the scene, police are relying on missing person reports from Nairobi and surrounding counties. "We are urging anyone with a missing female relative to come forward," a police source stated. "Justice begins with a name."