Kenyan Man Missing in the US for 24 Years as Family Appeals for Help

A Nairobi family is seeking information about their son, Paul Muiruri Ngigi, who disappeared in the United States more than two decades ago.

Ngigi, also known as Paul M. Ngigi Kiggo, travelled to California in 2001 to pursue postgraduate studies after completing his degree at the United States International University in Nairobi. He remained in contact with relatives in Kenya for about two years before communication stopped in 2003. His last known address was an apartment on Klump Avenue in North Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Since then, the family has received several unconfirmed reports about his possible whereabouts. One account suggested that he may have been involved in an accident and subsequently imprisoned, but the family has never received official confirmation.

In 2010, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on a man named Paul Ngigi who was living in a shelter in San Francisco's Tenderloin district. The family was unable to establish whether the man was their missing son.

San Francisco Superior Court records also listed the name Paul Muiruri Ngigi in two criminal cases that remained active as of late 2022. The family has not been able to confirm whether the cases involve their son.

The uncertainty has been particularly difficult for Ngigi's ageing parents in Buruburu. His mother is currently hospitalised but continues to hope that information about her son will emerge, while his father remains hopeful of seeing him again.

The family says it is financially prepared to support Ngigi's return to Kenya if he is found and chooses to come home. The appeal is particularly directed at Kenyans living in California, especially in Los Angeles and San Francisco, where Ngigi was last known to have lived. Anyone with credible information about his whereabouts is being asked to come forward.

The family has spent more than two decades trying to establish what happened to him, relying on available media reports, court records and community networks for possible leads.