Police have launched a full homicide investigation into the death of a Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officer at Nakuru National Park after an autopsy ruled out suicide, revealing the officer was shot three times.

Corporal Leonard Ochieng Odero, who was attached to the KWS Honeymoon Camp, was found dead inside his house on June 23.

While the incident was initially reported as a suspected suicide, complete with a service rifle and a handwritten family note found at the scene, the forensic findings have completely upended that theory.

The post-mortem examination, conducted on Thursday at Umash Funeral Home by pathologist Titus Ngulungu, determined that the trajectory and pattern of the wounds were entirely inconsistent with a self-inflicted shooting.

Shot three times

Dr Ngulungu concluded that Corporal Odero’s death was caused by massive blood loss alongside severe head and chest trauma.

The autopsy detailed a brutal sequence of injuries: the first bullet entered through the rear of the skull and exited through the mouth, shattering the jaws, then a second gunshot entered through the left side of the back rib cage and exited through the left chest and the third bullet struck the left shoulder from the front and exited through the back, fracturing the upper left arm.

Staged crime scene

Following the medical forensic report, Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) officers immediately returned to the house inside the national park on Thursday to re-process the area as an active murder scene.

Investigators are now looking closely at the evidence recovered during the initial response, which includes: a KWS service rifle and ammunition that had been officially issued to Odero for his duty shifts.

The firearm has been secured as an exhibit for ballistic testing.

Multiple spent cartridges recovered from inside the house and a handwritten document addressed to close family members containing personal instructions, which will likely undergo forensic handwriting analysis to verify its authenticity.

Sources close to the investigation indicate that Corporal Odero had only been stationed at Nakuru National Park for about six weeks, having recently transferred from Aberdare National Park.

No suspects have been formally named yet as detectives work to piece together the officer’s final hours.