DCI Pins Six Students as Suspects in Utumishi Girls Dormitory Arson That Claimed 16 Lives

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations has identified six students as prime suspects in the May 28, 2026 dormitory fire at Utumishi Girls Senior Secondary School — a tragedy that robbed 16 young Kenyans of their lives and left scores of others with serious injuries. The identifications emerged from a painstaking forensic review of closed-circuit television footage recorded on the night the blaze broke out.

Forensic specialists working at the DCI National Police Service Forensics Laboratory established what they described as "the involvement of seven students in the suspected arson attack." Six of those named were already counted among the eight individuals previously placed under arrest in connection with the fire, giving investigators a firmer foundation to pursue charges against the group.

A seventh suspect, however, is still on the run. The student in question was earlier released into the custody of her parents but has since not been accounted for. DCI officers say they are actively working to locate her, and the agency has appealed to members of the public who may know of her whereabouts to volunteer that information to investigators without delay.

The fire swept through the Meline Waithera Dormitory, trapping sleeping students inside and injuring a further 79. Post-mortem examinations conducted on all 16 deceased students confirmed that each one died as a direct result of severe burn injuries. In cases where the bodies were too badly damaged to allow straightforward identification, the DCI collected DNA samples from the victims' relatives — a painstaking but necessary step to ensure every family received proper answers about their loved ones.

To reconstruct the sequence of events, detectives enlisted the help of school teachers, with both groups jointly poring over surveillance recordings at the DCI's Forensic Imaging and Acoustic Laboratory. The specialised facility, equipped to enhance and analyse video and audio evidence, allowed investigators to make positive identifications of the students whose movements were captured on camera in the critical moments surrounding the outbreak of the fire.

As the inquiry deepens, the DCI has called on Kenyans with any additional information to present themselves to the nearest police station or contact investigators directly. The dormitory fire at Utumishi Girls stands among the most painful school disasters in the country's recent memory, and authorities say they are resolved to pursue every lead until all those responsible are held fully accountable before the law.