Seven years after Father John Kaiser was found with the back of his head blown off and a shotgun by his side, and after three investigations, we are, for all that, still nowhere near knowing who killed him and why.

The search for the truth and justice in the grisly killing is a great way away. 

The verdict of the latest investigation by chief magistrate Maureen Odero is still a far cry from the whole truth. 

The verdict rejects the findings of the seven-month-long investigations carried out in 2001 by the Kenya police and fabled American sleuths, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).

Mrs Odero courageously recorded on Wednesday this week a verdict of “not suicide”. 

She trashed the conclusion by the FBI that the 67-year-old American citizen had committed suicide. 

THIS WAS A THEORY SUPPORTED also by a parallel Kenya police investigation, the findings of which were never made public.

The magistrate also faulted psychiatrist Frank Njenga’s claim that the Catholic priest suffered from mental illness. 

However, while Mrs Odero should be praised for her finding of facts and bold interpretation of the law, her “not suicide” pronouncement is effectively an open verdict. 

Although she ruled out suicide, she did not find reliable evidence as to who killed Fr Kaiser or the motive. 

So we are back to square one. Technically, Mrs Odero left the case open to another inquest or the reopening of the present. 

The suicide theory was the most disputed aspect of the death of the Mill Hill missionary. 

It was roundly rejected by church leaders who saw it as an easy way out of a difficult murder investigation. The chairman of the Kenya Episcopal Conference, Archbishop John Njue, said the suicide theory was “too cheap for anyone to buy and we cannot accept it.”

Bishop Collins Davis of the Ngong Catholic diocese, under whom Fr Kaiser worked, said the priest, who spent 36 years of his life administering to Kenyans, could not have killed himself. 

Technically, recording a verdict of “not suicide” was the easy part. 

As Mrs Odero said, no tangible evidence was tabled before court to back the claim. Suicide -- self-killing of a person of sound mind and discretion – requires proof beyond reasonable doubt. 

For a suicide verdict to be recorded, the inquest must have proved that Fr Kaiser not only killed himself, but also to wanted kill himself. 

To prove that he killed himself beyond reasonable doubt, the inquest must have produced positive evidence of his intention to kill himself, such as a suicide note. The inquest could only infer suicide from the facts if no other explanation was possible other than that he killed himself and intended to do so. 

However, after ruling out suicide, Mrs Odero could not find any person guilty of involvement in his death, although she pointed out a few people as suspects who should be investigated. 

She recommended that police carry out fresh investigations.

This is easier said than done. With the passage of time and lapse of memory and opportunities to tamper with evidence, a new investigation will be tough.

In reality, Mrs Odero is also asking police and the attorney-general, who had concurred with the FBI report, to clean up. 

When the FBI released their report on April 19, 2001, attorney-general Amos Wako said the Government had invited the US investigators to carry out the investigation because Kenyans did not have faith in the findings of their police.

The FBI, in fact, worked with the Kenya police. And Mr Wako, the then police commissioner, Mr Philemon Abong’o, Criminal Investigations Department (CID) director Francis Sang’ and the director of prosecutions, Mrs Uniter Kidullah, were present at the news conference in which the FBI announced that Fr Kaiser had killed himself.

MR WAKO SAID THE CID HAD prepared its own report on the death of Fr Kaiser, which was similar to that of the FBI. 

He commended the FBI report, saying that it was detailed, comprehensive and “an eloquent testimony to our joint commitment to uncover the facts of this case.”

If the Church had not tirelessly pressurised for a public inquiry, the attorney-general would have closed the case. No doubt, the politics surrounding the investigation has changed. 

But we are a long way away, even after the inquest, from the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

It is also probable that Fr Kaiser’s death will remain one of the mysterious, alongside those of Foreign Affairs minister Robert Ouko and Bishop Alexander Muge.

All these have not been solved to date.