When her face appeared on the cellphone display, her dad teased her that she appeared hungry and drained. Her smile was extra subdued, he famous. Her quick hair, often braided, was rumpled.
“Ensure you drink sizzling milk and loosen up,” her dad stated from his front room within the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.
That was February 24, the final time anybody in her household noticed her.
A month later — lower than three years after Gakwa left Kenya for america — her household reported her lacking. On the time of the February video name, Gakwa’s dad and mom weren’t conscious she was dwelling in Gillette, Wyoming, with a person she’d met on a Craigslist courting discussion board.
Additionally they had no approach of understanding that police would later accuse the person of eradicating cash from her checking account, maxing out her bank card and deleting her electronic mail account. And so they by no means imagined that six months would go by with no phrase from her.
“She’s all the time been a daddy’s woman,” stated her father, Francis Kambo, in a latest cellphone interview from Nairobi. He took a deep breath as he recalled that final video name along with his solely daughter and youngest of his three youngsters.
“She was supposed to come back dwelling for Christmas this 12 months. I used to be going to purchase that ticket myself for her to come back if she could not afford it,” he added, his voice shaking.
“Now I do not know if I am going to ever see her once more.”
Her anxious relations span two continents
Gakwa’s anxious household spans two continents 9,000 miles aside.
Her dad and mom stay in Nairobi whereas her two older brothers, Chris Munga and Kennedy Wainaina, stay within the Idaho metropolis of Meridian — a Boise suburb.
Her father began worrying in late February when she didn’t reply to repeated video calls. This was uncommon for the 32-year-old, who spoke to her dad and mom about each different day.
And her written messages sounded odd, her household stated. As a substitute of the combination of Swahili and Kenyan slang she makes use of, the messages had been in stilted English — like somebody was utilizing Google Translate to ship them, stated Wainaina, her oldest brother.
“The texts can be misplaced,” her father stated.
In early March — between the final video name and the day she was reported lacking — her dad and mom acquired some quick WhatsApp messages from her account. Some made excuses for why she wasn’t doing video calls.
“Dad, I dropped my cellphone within the water and now the microphone would not work,” one message stated.
One other stated, “I simply need you to know I really like and miss you and mother.”
“We miss you … we wish to see you, not simply chat on WhatsApp,” her father responded. “We love you all the time. You’ll … be my daughter endlessly.”
Her boyfriend instructed police she packed her luggage and left
The final WhatsApp message got here on March 9, her father stated.
The three siblings share a cellphone household plan. After Gakwa’s brothers couldn’t attain her, they appeared by way of her cellphone information and referred to as a detailed good friend she’d talked to quite a few occasions.
That is how they came upon she had been dwelling along with her boyfriend, Nathan Hightman, 39, in a modest three-bedroom home in Gillette. The couple had dated since 2020, however had damaged up a number of occasions, Wainaina stated. Her brothers thought they’d parted methods and weren’t conscious they’d rekindled their romance and moved in collectively.
Her brothers reported her lacking to the Gillette Police Division on March 20, and an officer talked to Hightman the identical day, based on an affidavit of possible trigger in a associated separate prison case towards her boyfriend.
Hightman instructed the officer he final noticed Gakwa in late February, when she got here dwelling one night time, packed her clothes in two plastic luggage and left in a dark-colored SUV, the affidavit stated. He instructed police he hadn’t heard from her since. He additionally stated he withdrew cash from her checking account so she can be pressured to contact him if she wanted cash, the affidavit stated.
Hightman didn’t reply to the brothers’ request handy over her stuff of their dwelling, Wainaina stated. They implored him to present them her paperwork, together with her Kenyan passport, however Hightman declined, Wainaina added.
Hightman is taken into account an individual of curiosity in her disappearance and has “not made himself out there to detectives seeking to resolve questions that exist within the investigation,” Gillette police stated in a press release.
“We consider he has data pertaining to the disappearance of Irene, however he has elected to not present that data to legislation enforcement at the moment,” Gillette police detective Dan Stroup instructed CNN.
CNN has made repeated makes an attempt to achieve Hightman through cellphone, textual content and electronic mail, however he has not responded. CNN additionally left messages for his public defender, Dallas Lamb, however didn’t hear again.
Hightman has not been charged in Gakwa’s disappearance, however is a suspect in monetary crimes towards her after she went lacking. Gillette police arrested him in Might and charged him with two felony counts of theft, one felony depend of illegal use of a bank card, and two felony counts of crimes towards mental property for allegedly altering her banking account password and deleting her electronic mail account after she vanished.
Between February and March, Hightman transferred almost $3,700 from Gakwa’s checking account to his personal and spent a further $3,230 on her bank card, court docket paperwork allege.
He additionally modified her banking passwords and deleted her Gmail account, court docket paperwork stated. All of the modifications had been constructed from an IP deal with related to Hightman after the date he instructed police Gakwa had moved out, based on the possible trigger affidavit.
“This may point out it was Nathan Hightman accessing Irene’s account, eradicating cash and altering the password to disclaim entry to Irene,” the affidavit stated. “These transactions started on February 25, 2022, and continued by way of March 2022.”
Hightman has pleaded not responsible to all costs and was launched on a $10,000 bond. His pretrial convention is scheduled for November.
Her adopted group is pushing for solutions
In the meantime, Gakwa’s two brothers and her sister-in-law have been commuting to Gillette from Meridian a number of weekends a month to prepare search events. Most days, they do not know the place to start.
Some residents of Gillette, a metropolis of 32,000 in northeastern Wyoming, have rallied to search out her. Carrying T-shirts that learn, “The place’s Irene?” they’ve hosted weekend search events and canvassed neighborhoods in search of permission to place up lacking individual indicators. It is common to see photos of Gakwa posted within the neighborhood the place she lived along with her boyfriend.
“No household ought to ever must go to mattress at night time questioning the place their cherished one is,” stated Stacy Koester, who lives in Gillette and has been organizing searches with a bunch of native ladies since April.
They’ve mapped out areas to look and marked off the place they’ve already appeared so they do not go over the identical place twice, Koester stated.
“We promised her father and her brothers that we’ll by no means cease looking out till we deliver her dwelling or they’ve solutions,” she added. “That is our objective. We’re their household right here in Gillette.”
Koester and different neighbors even have gathered exterior Hightman’s dwelling, holding indicators and chanting, “Nate, the place’s Irene?”
Generally, her father watches the demonstrations through video from Kenya.
However with each passing day, hope fades a little bit.
Her dad and mom had blended emotions about her transfer to the US
Born and raised in Kenya, Gakwa emigrated to america in Might 2019, hoping to launch a profession in well being care. A petite girl, she stood simply over 5 toes tall and weighed about 90 kilos.
At first, her dad and mom resisted their introverted daughter’s plans to maneuver to a faraway nation. They anxious about how she’d modify — she was so shy, she barely left her room of their suburban Nairobi dwelling to go exterior, her father stated.
“We typically needed to remind her to get out of the home and get some daylight,” her father stated. “However we determined since her brothers are there, why not?”
Gakwa settled first in Idaho to be close to her brothers, with goals of attending nursing college and dealing in a hospital. She lived with the youthful of her brothers, Chris Munga, and his spouse, Gyoice Abatey, in Meridian.
There, she developed a detailed bond along with her sister-in-law. Each ladies took a ladies’ journey to Los Angeles in 2020, and in between buying, consuming out and visits to the seaside, Gakwa confided to Abatey that she was courting Hightman. Gakwa spent a variety of time with him on the cellphone, Abatey stated, however didn’t share many particulars about their relationship.
Abatey described her sister-in-law as a candy, fun-loving one who began her mornings with a cup of tea and loved cooking, buying and watching Nigerian films.
“She’s such a free spirit, so caring, goofy, she simply goes with the circulate,” Abatey stated.
Gakwa and Hightman finally moved in collectively in Meridian, and she or he began nursing college at School of Western Idaho. In the summertime of 2021, they relocated to Gillette, the place she transferred to Gillette Group School.
At occasions, her father would ask Gakwa if she needed to return to Kenya.
“She’d inform me, ‘Dad, I am good. I’ve my very own life now,'” Kambo stated.
Within the months earlier than she vanished, Gakwa returned to Meridian a number of occasions to go to her household.
Final Thanksgiving, they gathered on the home of Munga, her brother. There, she and her siblings made their favourite African delicacies, together with goat barbecue, jollof rice and ugali, a type of corn meal widespread in Kenya.
Gakwa cooked a facet of cabbage with a number of tomatoes — similar to their mom used to make whereas they had been rising up. She taught Abatey how you can make it for her brother.
They ate and talked late into the night time.
That was the final time her siblings noticed her in individual.
Her boyfriend allegedly purchased boots and a shovel utilizing her financial institution card
The Gillette Police Division stated it has executed roughly 24 search warrants within the case, together with at Hightman’s dwelling and at a number of banks to trace exercise on Gakwa’s accounts.
Throughout one of many searches, investigators recovered a shovel and boots Hightman purchased at a Walmart in late February utilizing Gakwa’s Visa card, based on court docket paperwork.
In April, Gillette police issued a press release naming Hightman “an individual of curiosity” within the case and saying, “he has not made himself out there to detectives seeking to resolve questions that exist within the investigation.”
The police added, “Irene went lacking beneath suspicious circumstances. … digital proof, together with location information, can also be being analyzed and has offered optimistic leads.”
Stroup, the detective, stated the investigation is ongoing.
“Within the occasion possible trigger is established, acceptable motion will likely be taken,” he stated.
Her household is struggling between hope and grief
Gakwa’s household remains to be holding out hope that someway she’ll contact them or come again dwelling. The choice is simply too arduous to bear.
Abatey needs she’d held Gakwa a little bit tighter the final time they hugged. Her youngsters ask time and again the place their aunt is.
Gakwa’s thirty third birthday was in July, and her nephews thought in the event that they threw a celebration, perhaps she’d present up. As a substitute, they held a Zoom vigil. Her family and friends shed tears and shared recollections and photographs of her, struggling between utilizing previous or current tense.
“Whether or not we meet on this life or the subsequent, know that you just’re completely cherished,” one good friend stated. On the finish, they performed a video of a beaming Gakwa dancing and singing alongside to “Drogba (Joanna),” a track by UK artist Afro B.
“My youngsters do not perceive why auntie shouldn’t be calling them, how she simply disappeared,” Abatey stated. “Generally I simply think about her strolling by way of the door, and saying, ‘Why are you searching for a grown girl like me?’ As the times go by and nothing occurs, we do not know what to do.”
Hundreds of miles away, Gakwa’s dad and mom pray for her each night time. Her mom is simply too distraught to speak to reporters, however Kambo, her father, stated sharing recollections of his daughter helps him cope.
He chuckles when he remembers their shut relationship.
“She was my solely daughter. I spoiled her and she or he took benefit of that,” he stated. “She had not launched Nathan to me — that is what kills me.”
Some days, he is optimistic she’ll make it dwelling for Christmas. However most days, not a lot.
“I simply wish to know the reality. I am nonetheless hopeful, however my hope is dwindling. She is aware of my quantity,” he added.
“The truth that she has not referred to as …”
His voice trailed off.
