A suspect connected to the death of seven family members in a fire tragedy at Ngimari village in Runyenjes, Embu County, in October last year was Saturday arrested.
Police said the suspect was arrested on Saturday night in Navakholo, Kakamega County, after being trailed by detectives.
The family comprising the father, mother, two daughters a son and two grandchildren, died after a fire gutted their three-bedroom timber house.
Embu East Sub-county police commander Jane Waruinge said they will transfer him to Embu for further questioning before being arraigned.
Police said they had learned the suspect had disagreed with his wife leading to them parting ways, and the woman later married another man in the village.
The couple had two children together before they separated.
After learning that the woman had remarried, the suspect sent her a text message threatening to set their family home on fire.
However, he is said to have mistakenly set a neighbor’s house on fire killing the victims.
He later sent a text message to his former wife, expressing shock that she was still alive after the fire incident.
He then switched off his mobile phone and went into hiding, police said.
Detectives were later tipped that he was hiding in his rural village in Ebuchangu which they responded to, leading to his arrest.
