A family in Bungoma County, Kenya, is struggling to make sense of a heartbreaking mistake after learning their 10-year-old son, whom they thought they buried in 2023, is alive. Susan and Benson Wanjala spent 13 months grieving, believing their son was gone forever. This week, they received the astonishing news that he is living with another family in a different part of the county. The discovery has led to the exhumation of a body they wrongly buried, raising questions about how such an error happened. While the story has not been confirmed by police or major news outlets, it highlights ongoing problems with identifying bodies and finding missing children in Kenya.
The Wanjalas’ nightmare began in 2023 when their son went missing. The family searched everywhere but found no trace of him. Months later, a young boy’s body was found in a nearby area. Police asked Susan and Benson to identify it. The body was badly decomposed, making it hard to be sure, but the heartbroken parents believed it was their son. They held a funeral and buried the child, trying to find peace. For over a year, they lived with their grief, not knowing the truth.
On Monday, April 21, 2025, everything changed. The Wanjalas got a call saying their son was alive. Good Samaritans had found him wandering in Bungoma County shortly after he went missing. He couldn’t speak clearly, possibly due to shock or a disability, so the people who rescued him took him in as their own. They didn’t know he had a family looking for him. When word finally reached the Wanjalas, they rushed to see the boy. Tears flowed as they confirmed it was their son, alive and well. The family was overjoyed but confused about the child they had buried.
Determined to find answers, the Wanjalas asked the police for permission to dig up the body they thought was their son’s. On Wednesday, April 23, 2025, the exhumation happened at a local cemetery, watched by police and health officers to make sure it was done properly. The body was sent to Bungoma County Referral Hospital for DNA tests to find out who the child was. The tests could take weeks, but the family hopes to learn the truth and give closure to another family who might be missing their child.
Mistakes like this are not new in Bungoma. In 2019, another family buried the wrong person because of a mortuary mix-up, according to NTV Kenya. In 2021, a Kakamega man found his daughter alive after thinking she was dead, showing how these errors happen in Western Kenya. Bungoma’s mortuaries sometimes struggle with identifying bodies, especially when they are decomposed or records are poor. Poverty can also make it hard for families to report missing children quickly, and some kids get taken in by others without police being told.
Kenya has a big problem with missing children. Over 7,000 kids go missing every year, says a 2023 Nation report. Some get lost, while others are taken or run away because of hard lives at home. Good Samaritans often help, but not always telling the police can lead to mix-ups like this one. The Wanjalas are thankful for the people who cared for their son but want to know why the mistake wasn’t caught sooner.
Local leaders are pushing the police to investigate fast. They want to know how the wrong body was given to the Wanjalas and who the buried child is. The family is happy to have their son back but feels pain for the other child’s family, who may not know what happened. Susan and Benson are asking for better systems to identify bodies and track missing kids so no one else goes through this.
If your child is missing, report it to the police right away by calling 999. You can also contact the Child Welfare Society of Kenya at +254 20 600 3301 or Missing Child Kenya at +254 716 696 989. The Wanjalas’ story shows how important it is to act quickly and keep hope alive.
