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How Kenyan man killed family in USA

VADNAIS HEIGHTS, Oct 16 – Details have now emerged how a Kenyan man murdered his wife and their two children in Minnesota, USA.

Justus Kebabe told police that he killed his wife on Monday by hitting her with a golf club and then strangling her with electrical wire at the family home after suspecting her of infidelity, reports The Star Tribune.

He then drugged and killed two of his children — one by holding his head underwater and the other by suffocating her with a pillow, charges said.

"Stop, Daddy, stop!" 12-year-old Kinley Ogendi said as he struggled for his life underwater in the bathtub, the criminal complaint read.

Kebabe, 43, charged in Ramsey County District Court with three counts of second-degree murder, told investigators he was angry because he believed his wife, Bilha Omare, 32, was being unfaithful.

Omare was killed Monday, and the children, 9-year-old daughter Ivyn Ogendi and 12-year-old son Kinley Ogendi, were killed the next morning. Their bodies were found in separate rooms of the apartment early Thursday.

Kebabe, wearing a green Kevlar vest, made a brief appearance Friday afternoon before Judge Gail Chang Bohr. He waived a formal reading of the complaint and his bail was set at $3 million (Sh240 million). His next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 29.

Kebabe had tried to choke himself to death Thursday afternoon by stuffing a wad of toilet paper into his mouth, Sheriff Bob Fletcher said. A deputy found him on the floor of his cell, still conscious. He was seen by a nurse at the jail, but did not need further medical attention. Deputies had been checking on Kebabe every 15 minutes because he was placed on suicide watch as soon as he arrived at the jail, Fletcher said.

Kebabe, with the couple\’s 3-year-old daughter in tow, was arrested Wednesday night after running out of gas on Interstate 35 north of Faribault, according to the charges.

Kebabe was picked up by a state trooper while running along the side of the road. He said he was going to get gas. He had left his daughter back at the car with two women who had helped him push his vehicle off the road, the criminal complaint said.

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An officer questioned Kebabe about the odor of alcohol on him, and he then failed some field sobriety tests. Later, however, a breath test showed he was under the legal blood alcohol limit. But he was taken to the Rice County Law Enforcement Center so a drug recognition expert could observe him.

While there, the complaint said, Kebabe eventually confessed to the crimes and described how he carried out the killings.

According to the complaint:

Kebabe told investigators he struck Omare in the head with a golf club Monday and strangled her with an electrical wire. He moved her body to a bathroom, locked the door and put a towel under the door to keep the blood from running out.

The two older children came home from school Monday and later went to bed.
The next morning, he put Tylenol PM pills in cranberry juice and gave the concoction to them. As Kinley was about to bathe in the other bathroom, Kebabe held the boy\’s head underwater until he was dead.

Kebabe moved his son\’s body to his bed and covered him with blankets.
The father then went to Ivyn\’s room, where she was dressed but groggy and lying in bed. He put a pillow over her head, smothered her and strangled her with his hands.

Deputies went to the scene late Wednesday after receiving a call from Kebabe\’s brother and noticed that a television was on in the otherwise dark apartment. The brother and other relatives had been called by Kebabe.

The brother said Kebabe "was crying hysterically, acting very distraught and stating he was going to kill himself," according to the complaint.

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Police returned about 1 a.m. Thursday, entered the apartment and found the bodies.

"Our entire community feels the pain and sadness of these horrific deaths," Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner said in a statement. "They remind us, in such a tragic way, that domestic violence continues to take a horrible toll despite so much effort to prevent it."

(Star Tribune Staff writer Pat Pheifer contributed to this report. Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482)

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