Detectives have arrested the mastermind behind the gruesome murder of 19-year-old Purity Wangechi.

The mastermind identified as John Wanyike Kibungi, 24 who was arrested alongside two of his accomplices was smoked out of his hide out in Kirigiti during the wee hours of the morning as he had prepared to escape.

The arrest comes after a manhunt was launched by a combined team of detectives and general duty police officers based at Kiambu police station.

According to the DCI, the main suspect together with his accomplices identified as Kanaiya Kamau and Brendan Muchiri killed the deceased and disposed of her body which bore visible stab wounds and strangulation marks by the roadside close to Mburiria estate in Kiambu county.

Detectives recovered bloodstained beddings, clothes, her identification documents, and a vegetable knife carefully concealed in the suspect's waistband at the scene of the crime.

Preliminary investigations earlier established that the deceased who was a student at the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (KIMC) had left school to visit her boyfriend, who resides in Kirigiti, Kiambu county.

Friends interviewed by the DCI stated that the deceased and her boyfriend had recently had a misunderstanding after she discovered that her boyfriend was a thug and confronted him with the facts.

The three suspects are currently in custody pending arraignment in court