Irene Gakwa Wiki – Irene Gakwa Biography

“We still have the big question pending: Where is Irene?” says Irene Gakwa’s brother, Kennedy Wainaina. “Hopefully the answers will come soon”. The boyfriend of Wyoming nursing student Irene Gakwa has pleaded guilty to stealing her money, using her credit cards and deleting her email account after her disappearance in 2022. On Tuesday in Campbell County District Court, Nathan Hightman, 39, of Gillette, pleaded guilty to three of the five felony charges he was charged with: one count of theft, illegal use of a credit card and crimes against intellectual property.

Gakwa’s brother, Kennedy Wainaina, tells PEOPLE that after pleading guilty, Hightman was led out of court in handcuffs. He was taken to jail, where he will remain until he is sentenced. Wainaina tells PEOPLE that he, his brother and his parents in Kenya “are happy he’s in jail.”

Gakwa was 32 when she disappeared in February 2022 while living with Hightman at Gillette. The last time her family heard from her was on February 24, 2022, when she spoke to her parents in Kenya on a WhatsApp video call. Hightman told police that one night in 2022, the woman known for being a shy homebody packed up her belongings, got into a pickup truck and left the home they shared.

Irene Gakwa Age

The age of Irene Gakwa is 32 years.

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Irene Gakwa went missing

She said that she had no idea where she was. For Tuesday’s hearing, Wainaina drove with family members of Gillette from Idaho. They were joined there by local supporters, including Stacy Koester, who has led many searches for Gakwa, wearing T-shirts and hats emblazoned with the words “Where is Irene Gakwa?”

Koester tells PEOPLE, “Yesterday was a small victory, but a huge boost in confidence for our Gillette Police Department and District Attorney’s Office. It was beautiful to see the happiness on the faces of Irene’s family.” “I really believe that this is the beginning of justice for Irene and I am so grateful to know that Nathan Hightman is in jail. Justice for Irene started yesterday,” she adds.

Says Wainaina: “We’re excited to see some movement, but we still have the big question hanging over us: Where is Irene? Hopefully the answers will come soon.” Hightman pleaded guilty less than a week before he was scheduled to begin his 10-day trial on April 3. In exchange for his guilty pleas, prosecutors agreed to drop two of the related charges.

After his arrest on May 11, 2022, Hightman initially pleaded not guilty to two counts of felony theft, two counts of intellectual property crimes and one count of illegal use of a credit card, according to the clerk. of the court. He was charged with stealing nearly $3,700 from Gakwa’s checking account, loading $604.65 onto his Visa card and maxing out his Capital One card in the amount of $3,230.65, court records show, Gillette News Record reports.

He emptied his bank account and used his credit cards after Gakwa disappeared. He told the police that he took the money from her so that she would contact him when he ran out of money. He remains a “person of interest” in her missing person case, but has not been charged in connection with her disappearance.

He had been released on $10,000 bond while awaiting trial, which the judge reversed Tuesday. No date has yet been set for his sentencing. He faces up to 23 years in prison and $23,000 in fines, County 17 reports.
Devastated family seeks answers With each passing day, Gakwa’s family loses hope that they will ever find her alive.

Gakwa moved to Boise in 2019 from her native Kenya to study nursing. She spent a lot of time with her older siblings who had come to the US before her—Wainaina, 44, and Chris Gakwa, 38—as well as her nieces and nephews. In 2020, she began dating Hightman after meeting him online on a Craigslist forum, according to her family.

Soon after, they realized that her social media accounts had been mysteriously deleted. “That didn’t sound like Irene,” Kennedy says. “All of us were going crazy.” Despite numerous searches organized by the family and neighbors and an ongoing police investigation, Gakwa has yet to be found.

In a May 22, 2022 statement, Gillette police said, “Information obtained through the investigation suggests that Irene disappeared under suspicious circumstances.” Detectives, the statement continued, “are asking the public for any information about a gray or silver Subaru Crosstrek with Idaho license plates that may have been seen trespassing on private property or appearing out of place in rural areas of Campbell County inRead Mor……………..