Standoff at Embu Level Five Mortuary After Family Arrives to Bury Child — Only to Find Body Missing

A one-year-old’s remains were mistakenly released to a stranger’s family and buried in a different constituency — now authorities face an exhumation to correct the error

EMBU, KENYA — A family arrived at Embu Level Five Hospital on Monday morning to collect the body of their toddler for burial. They left empty-handed, devastated, and without answers — the victim of a mortuary blunder that has since sent shockwaves through the community.

Relatives and friends of one-year-old Lee Delyn Mukundi, who passed away a week ago, had gathered at the facility’s mortuary to collect his remains ahead of a planned burial at the family’s rural home in Kigumo Village, Runyenjes Constituency. Instead, mortuary attendants were unable to produce the body — and what followed was a harrowing discovery that no grieving parent should ever have to endure.

It later emerged that Lee Delyn’s body had been mistakenly released to an entirely different family and had already been buried at a homestead in the Kiamuringa area of Mbeere South.

The child’s father, Kevin Mukundi, recounted the moment the family first sensed something was terribly wrong. “When we inspected the body, we immediately knew it was not ours. It was the body of a six-year-old boy, yet our son was only one year old. The body could not even fit into the small coffin we had prepared,” he told journalists, his words painting a picture of grief compounded by institutional failure.

The revelation triggered a tense standoff at the mortuary as mourners, already raw with grief, demanded accountability. Anger mounted rapidly, with some threatening to march through Embu Town in protest if the situation was not urgently resolved. The family briefly sought intervention at Embu Police Station, but were referred back to the hospital for administrative handling — a response that did little to ease rising frustration as the hours ticked by with no resolution in sight.

Embu County Chief Officer for Health Patrick Mukavi eventually arrived at the mortuary and confirmed that a mix-up had indeed occurred. He said legal procedures had been set in motion to enable the exhumation of the wrongly buried body in Kiamuringa, which would allow for proper identification and ensure that Lee Delyn’s remains are returned to his family for burial. Mukavi further confirmed that the county health department would cover all burial expenses, acknowledging that the family had already made significant preparations before the error came to light.

The family departed the hospital visibly distraught, saying they were awaiting urgent action from the county government before they could begin to find any measure of closure.

The incident has raised serious questions about the mortuary management protocols at one of the region’s largest public health facilities — and whether adequate safeguards exist to prevent such a deeply traumatic error from happening again. For the Mukundi family, however, the procedural questions are secondary. They simply want their child back.

Embu County health authorities have been contacted for further comment. The exhumation process is expected to begin in the coming days pending the completion of legal formalities.