Kenyan Soldier in US Army Sentenced to 26 Years for Killing Wife

A Kenyan-born US Army soldier has been sentenced to 26 years in prison after pleading guilty to the murder of his wife in Killeen, Texas.

The 53-year-old, who worked as an aircraft structural repairer, admitted killing his wife, also a serving soldier, during a domestic dispute on 21 February 2025. The argument escalated, and he shot her multiple times before leaving her locked inside their bedroom.

Authorities were alerted after the suspect called his brother to confess. Law enforcement officers who responded discovered the victim’s body at the home. The Army Criminal Investigation Division later confirmed forensic evidence, including blood and DNA, linking the soldier to the crime scene. Officials highlighted the joint effort between military investigators and Texas law enforcement in securing the conviction. 

“We could not have achieved this outcome without the commitment and collaboration of our Texas law enforcement partners,” one investigator said.

The soldier will serve his sentence at the United States Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, the military’s maximum-security prison. While uncommon, this is not the first case involving a Kenyan national facing serious criminal charges in the United States. 

In 2023, another Kenyan man was accused of murdering his girlfriend in Massachusetts before fleeing the country. He purchased a one-way ticket to Nairobi the following day, prompting the FBI to issue an arrest warrant for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

Kenyan authorities, acting on the US request, arrested him in January 2024. After briefly escaping custody, he was rearrested and extradited to the United States to stand trial.