A Kenyan man has been arrested in Connecticut for trying to have his estranged wife killed by asking a random Uber driver to help him find a hitman willing to do the dirty deed.

Leonard Thuo Mwithiga, 52, a former high-flying executive at Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) is facing a lengthy prison sentence for attempting to hire a hitman to kill the woman he had been married to for 22 years. According to a report by the Connecticut State Police, Mwithiga had followed his estranged spouse, who had run away in September of last year because of his abusive behavior, to the United States in an attempt to convince her to return home. Having failed to do that, the man decided that the woman had to die. After getting into an Uber, he reportedly started talking to the driver, telling him that he was “very, very mad” and that he needed a hitman.

Between September 9 and December 1st, Mwithiga and the Uber driver met on several occasions and had multiple conversations via messaging apps, all of which were turned in as evidence to the authorities by the driver. The 52-year-old Kenyan man suggested a plan where the woman “was injected with something to make her very sick, ‘Like a cancer,’” adding that he wanted her to die a “slow death.”

The Uber driver, who had been in contact with the Connecticut police almost since the beginning, agreed to meet with Leonard Thuo Mwithiga and introduce him to a police officer posing as a hitman willing to carry out the contract. The three met outside a Motel 6 in Putnam on December 4, and Mwithiga once again stressed that he wanted the hitman to “finish” the victim, to “put her down”. He paid both the undercover policeman and the Uber driver an advance, promising to pay them in full once he had evidence of his estranged wife’s death.

 

Mwithiga reportedly told the undercover police officer to carry out the killing of his ex-wife between Jan. 28 and Feb 3, 2024, when he would be in Kenya, so as not to raise any suspicions. Unfortunately for him, he was arrested that same day, right as the police decided they already had a strong case against him.

Leonard Thuo Mwithiga is being held on a $5,000,000 bond, court records show. He is scheduled to return to court next month.