The body of a high school teacher who apparently drowned five months ago has been found without the head and limbs.

John Murunga, a teacher at Nalutili Secondary School in Bungoma county, was found in River Kipkaren in Lugari, Kakamega county on Tuesday evening.

It was discovered by Joel Webo who was grazing animals near the river.

"I saw an object floating on the water. I discovered it was a human body trapped in reeds," Webo said.

He said he rushed home and called his brothers who helped him retrieve the body.

Police officers and the family were called to the scene. Experts said massive decomposition was to be expected after almost half a year.

The widow, Josephine Kanini, identified the body as that of her husband by the underwear.

She said he left home in Lumama village, Lugari, on Tuesday, August 11, last year. He never returned.

“My husband was a drunkard; I thought he had gone for a drinking spree as usual but I became worried after he failed to return home as usual," Kanini said.

She and other family member searched brew dens for five days.

Then she received information that her husband, whom she called psychotic, had been overheard by his friends threatening to throw himself in the river.

“I followed up and traced the boys who allegedly witnessed him plunging into the river. According to the description, I knew he was the one and that is how we knew that he drowned,” Kanini said.

Family members, residents, local and expert divers searched for the body for two months and gave up.

The body was taken to Kimbilio mortuary as the family began burial arrangements.

-The Star/ Hilton Otenyo