Ajabu Africa News

PHOTO:

The Late Francis Gatua. pic by Courtesy

By:

HARRISON MAINA

Posted:

Jul,12-2017 13:29:24

LOWELL, MA--In another shocking development to hit the Kenyan community in Boston in the last 2 months following back to back mysterious deaths of young members of the community, a Kenyan man in his early 40's was found dead by a friend and a roommate inside an apartment on Hildreth Street.

Francis K. Gatua (41) was found dead Friday night by his roommate and close friends who had not seen or spoke to him for about 3 days, then got more concerned when foul smell started coming from inside his bedroom.

According Hassan Kimani Ali, a close friend and confidant of the late Gatua, Gatua stopped responding to his WhatsApp messages Friday last week.

Concerned as to what was going on with his friend, Ali contacted other close friends who started making calls to each other in an effort to find the whereabouts of the late Kenyan.

With no luck forthcoming, Ali then decided to contact Gatua's employer at Jomo Transportation, a Kenyan owned livery company in the area.

"I googled and found Jomo Transportation but I could not find their contact number. No one I knew seemed to have it," Ali told Ajabu Africa News.

Frustrated with the situation, Ali said that he spotted a van from Reliable Transportation company. He decided to hail it as he had heard that the company is also owned by a Kenyan hoping they may have the Jomo Transportation contacts being in the same business in the same city.

"Luckily, the reliable Transportation driver happened to know Jomo Transportation so he gave me the contacts after I explained the sad death. That is how I contacted the employer who told me that Gatua had said he would go on vacation. So we stopped worrying as much," he said.

However, after several more days with no contact, Ali and other friends got more concerned and decided to check in his room.

"His WhatsApp indicated that the last time he was online was on Monday April 10 at 8.52pm. We got worried. That is when we stared more efforts to ask around."

Ali added that it was on Friday that Gatua's roommate, concerned with the foul smell in the house, called up another friend to help him check in his bedroom.

"When they opened the bedroom, the saw the body lying on the floor, and was kind of decomposed suggesting he had been dead for several days. We are all very shocked as he had told me a week ago that he was not feeling too well bad it was not a serious illness," a saddened Ali continued.

Friends summoned the Lowell Police Department and emergency crews who arrived immediately at the scene, processed the scene and retrieved the body to the Medical Examiner's Office.

Investigations on the cause the death are ongoing.

Ali said that the late Gatua did not have any immediate family members in the US, but that his family back in Kenya has been notified of the unexpected death.

"He has a wife and three children in Kenya. He goes to visit them every now and then. I always drop him off at the airport when he is travelling to Kenya. We informed his family of the death and they are asking for help to send the body back home for burial."

Ali urged Kenyans in the region to help the family raise funds for the funeral at the late Gatua's village in Kandara constituency, Kinyoho village, Kaguduini location, Murang'a County in central Kenya.

Other Kenyans who knew the late Gatua said that unfortunately, the late Gatua seemed to be struggling with emotional issues for a long time and had been a heaver consumer of hard liquor.

"For a long time Gatua seemed to have withdrawn from the church he was attending and avoided any social gatherings in the community. He would drink a lot of hard liquor by himself or with a few friends in his apartment," a source told Ajabu Media on condition of anonymity.

But despite the hard life that the late Kenyan seemed to have been living by the time of his untimely death, Kenyans in Lowell said that they will still come together and help raise funds for his burial since he is still a member of the community.

"We are helping regardless of the kind of life this guy lived. We want to help the parents and wife in Kenya since he was their only breadwinner instead of the guy being buried by the city for lack of any close family coming forward to claim the body," said a reliable source who is a member of the burial organizing committee.

The late Gatua becomes the third young Kenyan to die in mysterious circumstances when they were found dead inside their apartments within the Boston region within the last two months.

Last month in late March, 30 year old Joanne Njeri Gitau was found dead in her apartment in Lowell, while in February, a young Kenyan man was found dead in his father's apartment in Worcester in what media sources quoting local authorities described as suicide related death.

Friends of the late Gatua and well wishers are meeting daily for prayers and funeral planning at his apartment on 367 Hildreth St, Lowell MA starting at 6pm.

A memorial and fund raising service will be held this Sunday April 23rd at the Ushindi Kenyan Presbyterian church on 452 Chelmsford st Lowell and a wake will be held on Tuesday April 2th at the CCF church in Lowell.

Source:

AJABU AFRICAN NEWS