Kenyan Woman Mysteriously Disappears, Police Name White Boyfriend as Person of Interest

by Xara Aziz

Months after a Kenyan woman mysteriously vanished, a group of Wyoming women is on the hunt to find her after suspicions are rising that her boyfriend had something to do with her disappearance.

Irene Gakwa was last seen in February 2021 after making a video call to her family. By late March, she was reported missing. The 32-year-old is a Kenyan immigrant who moved to Wyoming and was living with her boyfriend, Nathan Hightman, a person of interest in her disappearance.

Hightman has a history of legal troubles, including being “charged with five felonies, transferring money from her bank account, changing her online banking password, maxing out her credit card and deleting her email account after she vanished,” according to CNN.

Gakwa’s boyfriend, Nathan Hightman, has been named as a person of interest in her disappearance.

The women helping to find Gakwa have coalesced and wear shirts with the words “Where’s Irene?” and “Team Irene” plastered on the front. Police say there is a 55-gallon metal drum connected to the case and is “a key part of the investigation,” said Stacy Koester, one of the women looking for Gakwa.

Investigators haven’t provided many details about why the drum is so pivotal in helping to find Gawka, although her brother, Kennedy Wainaina, told police that a neighbor spotted a fire burning in a drum in her boyfriend’s backyard between the time she video called her family and the time of her disappearance.

Detectives later searched Hightman’s home but could not locate the drum, Wainaina told CNN.

Meanwhile, Wainaina says he is grateful for the group of women who have devoted their time to help find his sister.

“These women, I have no words to explain how they’ve helped our family, ” he said. “They have become our family in [Wyoming], they are our feet on the ground. They’ve kept us updated on everything happening with the searches. We have tried to give them money to pay for some of the expenses in the search, but they’ve said no.”

Another woman helping to find Gawka, Heidi Kennedy, says she hopes she is found soon.

“We just want her found. We want to bring closure for her family, however long that takes — I’m hoping it’s not going to take long. It could be one of us, our mothers, children. We have to try to find her or get them answers.”

Related Posts

Crown App

FREE
VIEW