Detectives investigating the murder of Kenyan world record holder Agnes Tirop are treating her husband as the prime suspect.
A manhunt has since been launched for the man who has gone in hiding.
Police have established that Tirop’s husband called her parents crying and seeking forgiveness for an incident he said he had committed.
Keiyo North police boss Tom Makori said interviews with family members indicated the athlete and her husband had been having marital problems.
“Because the husband is missing and because of the call he made to her parents, we are treating him as the prime suspect,” Makori said.
On Wednesday, crime scene detectives were at the house of Tirop, who police say was reported missing by her father on Tuesday night.
“Today (Wednesday) the parents came to follow up on the matter and said the husband had called them seeking forgiveness over an incident he committed,” Makori said.
In their search for Tirop, detectives went to her house where they forced their way in and found her body in a pool of blood.
“When [police] got in the house, they found Tirop on the bed and there was a pool of blood on the floor,” the police boss said.
“They saw she had been stabbed in the neck, which led us to believe it was a knife wound, and we believe that is what caused her death.
“Her husband is still at large, and preliminary investigations tell us her husband is a suspect because he cannot be found. Police are trying to find her husband so he can explain what happened to Tirop.”
Crime scene investigators also recovered CCTV in the house and other items which they believe will help solve the murder.
Agnes’s husband was also her coach but he did not travel with her to Tokyo. Colleagues said their marital problems appeared to have heightened after the Tokyo Olympics.
