A 57-year-old woman in found dead in her bed after fire guts home to ashes.

According to Mwea west sub county police commander Wilson Koskei, Dorcas Wangeci’s body was discovered on Monday at around 10 p.m. when residents went to help put out the fire.

“Nobody was injured as she was alone in the compound and her children live in Nairobi,” Koskei said.

According to area resident’s efforts to put out the huge fire were slow as there was no water nearby.

“We thought there was nobody in the house as her cows remained tied in the compound the whole of yesterday and we were shocked to find her body in her bed ,” Mwangi said.

Kirinyaga residents now demand that the fire incident be investigated, claiming it was unusual that the woman’s body was recovered from her bed and that the two gas cylinders in her house had not exploded.

“They wanted to hide evidence, and that is why they set her house on fire, we are even wondering why the gas cylinder did not explode,” Elizabeth said.

According to Wilson Koskei, Mwea police have launched an investigation despite which residents are treating as an arson.

The body of the deceased was moved to Kibugi funeral home in Kutus awaiting a postmortem.

By Irene Mutu