Fiancé of Missing Kenyan Woman in the US Pleads Guilty to Three Felonies Against Her

Fiancé of Missing Kenyan Woman in the US Pleads Guilty to Three Felonies Against Her

Nathan Hightman, the fiancé of missing Kenyan-born woman Irene Gakwa has pleaded guilty in Campbell County District Court in Gillette, Wyoming.

Appearing before District Judge James Michael Causey on Tuesday, Hightman, 39, pleaded guilty to three of the five felonies related to intellectual and financial crimes against Gakwa.

Judge Causey presided over a change of plea hearing for Hightman after he signed an agreement regarding the charges. 

As part of the plea deal, Hightman pleaded guilty to one count of felony theft for transferring $2,666.46 in six separate transactions from Gakwa’s checking account into his Zelle account between March 1st and March 19th, 2022, according to an affidavit filed in the case. 

He also admitted to the unlawful use of two of Gakwa’s credit cards for 16 separate transactions amounting to $3,230.65. This includes the purchase of a shovel, boots and a pair of pants from Walmart, according to court documents.

Both felonies are punishable by up to 10 years in prison, a fine not exceeding $10,000, or both. 

Further to these two charges, Hightman also pleaded guilty to deleting Gakwa’s Google email account. This felony is punishable by no more than three years in prison, a fine of up to $3,000, or both.

In exchange for his plea, the felonies of taking $1,000 from Gakwa’s checking account and changing her banking password will be dropped. 

Hightman will also be required to pay restitution for the full value of the money stolen from Gakwa as part of the plea deal.

Campbell County Attorney Nathan Henkes said he had discussed the agreement with other attorneys inside and outside Campbell County and ensured Gakwa’s family understands the deal.

After pleading guilty, Hightman’s bond was revoked, and he was escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs. 

Gakwa, 32, has not been heard from since February 24th, 2022, when she had a WhatsApp video call with her parents who live in Nairobi.

She emigrated to the US in May 2019, hoping to launch a career in nursing and first settled in Idaho, where she lived with her brothers Chris Munga and Kennedy Wainaina while attending classes.

This is when she met Hightman on Craigslist and the two started dating before they decided to relocate to Wyoming in the summer of 2021. The two were engaged and lived together in a three-bedroom house in Gillette before she was reported missing on March 20th, 2022.

Hightman, who is considered a person of interest in her disappearance, told police that Irene came home one night and packed her clothes in two bags and then left in a dark-colored SUV.

Police believe Irene was taken to a rural area, mine site, or oil and gas location in a passenger vehicle or crossover SUV between February 24th and March 20th, 2022.

Detectives asked the public for information concerning a gray or silver Subaru Crosstrek with Idaho license plates that may have been trespassing or appearing out of place in rural Converse County between those dates. They also sought information about a possible 55-gallon metal drum that may have been burned or abandoned in the county.
 

Comments

Maxiley (not verified)     Wed, 03/29/2023 @ 11:33am

Someone somewhere has information what would solve this case,but for some reason are not willing to help out.Hopefully finding God, or guity consience constantly gnawing at them will force them to help the police.
The purchase of boots,shovel,and a pair of pants,plus the 55 gallon metal drum... obviously raised suspicion.And probably their is a beliavable explanation for it...
I personally think that this lady was conned,and then killed.The boyfriend has a hand in it.He is not going to volunteer any information that would damage him.As they say acriminal always leaves his trail...

GG (not verified)     Wed, 03/29/2023 @ 01:07pm

Why are these journalists still cladding this monster as a ‘FIANCÉ’? Even his name “HIGHTMAN’ doesn’t sound any different from HITMAN anyway! This murderer should do himself a last favour, tell Irene’s family the truth and show them where the body is. plea deal ain’t no deal of family’s pain and agony can’t get solved!

M kiratu (not verified)     Wed, 03/29/2023 @ 01:14pm

My two cents worth.
First pole sana to the family and friends of Irene.
However, I will bet anybody this is not the first time this guy has committed such a heinous act. Sisters please do a little research like googling somebody new before you can trust them.

Maxiley (not verified)     Wed, 03/29/2023 @ 08:57pm

In reply to by M kiratu (not verified)

@M kiratu, your two cents is worth alot in Golden wisdom. Women used to be very careful especially when far from home.This is not to suggest that she wasn't, but to remind ourselves to be careful.Yes, Iknow there are some men who are very charming,and sweep ladies with lies.And there are also women who fall for such lies.But as always, one cannot lie for long.So take your time to know someone. When you see danger signs,or flags, please dont stay, hoping for change.And finally, marry for the right reasons. One of the worst reason is to marry a mzungu so that you can boast that your spouse is a mzungu.Or for that matter,whatever color...Put character FIRST,and resources SECOND, race THIRD,then the rest. Ok... make your own list...and in what order...My two ( common) cents.

Mūndūmūgo (not verified)     Wed, 03/29/2023 @ 01:44pm

Damn!!!Looks like he swallowed her whole. All this time I thought Kīūngūyū was a fish.

Warid (not verified)     Thu, 03/30/2023 @ 01:42pm

In reply to by Mūndūmūgo (not verified)

Very funny @mundumugo! But one second look, Hitman looks like he has swallowed a small size woman! You never know some of these crazy folks live on human flesh!!

Thicwo Hakiri (not verified)     Wed, 03/29/2023 @ 03:24pm

Poleni but hii ujinga ya wakenya wakienda ng’ambo wanaaemanati sijui ninwazungu tu watawao, hii mambo ikiwafanyikia pole lakini msituletee

Thicwo Hakiri (not verified)     Thu, 03/30/2023 @ 05:57pm

In reply to by Mūndūmūgo (not verified)

Hiyo ni ukweli mundumugo. I have seen it with my own eyes. Wasichana wanasema the abuse their grandparents went through hawatapitia. They end up with wazungu—-whether good or bad
Mimi nasema mchimba kisima huingia mwenyewe

SimamaImara (not verified)     Wed, 03/29/2023 @ 08:12pm

Stay away from weedy druggies fatties out to play parasites. And be honest with anyone on relationships. Americans don't give each other free money so if you show twenty bucks you must keep giving them forever. They can't imagine how someone could have extra money to give around

MOHANDAS (not verified)     Thu, 03/30/2023 @ 11:22am

This is a cold case. The man is responsible. They should trace his movements and they will surely find that he was involved.

Imara (Mpya) Daima (not verified)     Fri, 03/31/2023 @ 01:13pm

Watu wengi wa kutoka Bara la COHO (Continent of Human Origins a.k.a. Africa) hawajui wala hawaelewi ya kwamba, Ndugu na dada zetu wengi wa asili ya Yuropa, wana ugonjwa wa kuchukia rangi ambayo haifanani na yao.
WanaYuropa wote waliohusika na biashara ya kuwateka na kuwauza watu wa asili ya COHO, wanawachukia sana watu wa kutoka COHO

Papa (Pope) aliyeitwa Nicholas wa tano (5) ndiye aliyepitisha kauli juu ya watu wa asili ya COHO wauzwe kama watumwa Juni 18, 1452. Baadaye Pope Alexander wa sita (6) naye pia alipitisha kauli nyingine iliyowaruhusu watu wa Spain na Portugal waende kuiba nchi zilizomo kwenye Bara la Marekani. Kanuni hii iliwaruhusu watu wa mataifa haya mawili kuwalazimisha wazaliwa wa bara hili kuwa wafuasi wa dini bandia ya Kirumi/Kiyahudi, na pia kufanywa watumwa katika nchi yao ya asili. Azimio hili lilipitishwa tarehe 4 Mwezi wa Mei mwaka wa 1493. Pia Pope huyu, alitilia mkazo pia utekaji na ununuaji wa watu wa asili ya COHO.
Pole sana Dada Gakwa kwa kufanya urafiki na mtu mgonjwa akili yake kutokana na maumbile yako uliyopewa na MWUMBAJI MKUU.
Pengine Mmarekani huyu wa asili ya Yuropa ni mwana KKK. Shirika la KKK ni kundi lenye wendawazimu wengi sana. Sijui kwa nini serikali ya Marekani hailipigi marufuku shirika hili la wendawazimu. Kwa nini ninawaita wendawazimu? Kwa sababu wanamkosoa MWUMBAJI MKUU ambaye ndiye aliyehusika kuumba viumbe vyote hapa duniani.
Ningependa kuona kundi hili la KKK likipiogwa marufuku mahali popote duniani hasa katika nchi ya Marekani.
Watu wa asili ya YUROPA walioshiriki kwenye utumwa wa wanaCOHO wana matatizo makubwa sana juu ya rangi ya ngozi ya WanaCOHO na pia jinsia.

Mūndūmūgo (not verified)     Mon, 04/03/2023 @ 10:21pm

In reply to by Imara (Mpya) Daima (not verified)

I have always found the fear and hatred of black people by non blacks irrational and perplexing. To wit, J Edgar Hoover once called the Black Panther party the greatest threat to the internal security of the US. They numbered 5000 at most. So threatening was Fred Hampton, he was drugged and shot while asleep. Most southern confederate soldiers were too poor to afford slaves but still fought for something they'd never have. Vagrancy laws, the convictions and the attendant denial of voting rights were aimed at black people. Lots of white people have been caught up in their wake. They still support this unjust system on the off chance it affects a black person. White people have drained pools, voted against universal healthcare, etc to their own detriment just so black people can't benefit. It's inexplicable to me.

Imara (Mpya) Daima (not verified)     Tue, 04/04/2023 @ 01:08am

@ Vic B.

Dum Diversas (english: Until different) is a papal bull issued on 18 June 1452 by Pope Nicholas V. It authorized Afonso V of Portugal to conquer Saracens and pagans and consign them to "perpetual servitude".[1][2] Pope Calixtus III reiterated the bull in 1456 with Inter caetera (not to be confused with Alexander VI's bull of the same title), renewed by Pope Sixtus IV in 1481 and Pope Leo X in 1514 with Precelse denotionis (English: Especially the description).[clarification needed] The concept of the consignment of exclusive spheres of influence to certain nation states was extended to the Americas in 1493 by Pope Alexander VI with Inter caetera.[3][4][5][6]

The Doctrine of Discovery, 1493
A Spotlight on a Primary Source by Pope Alexander VI
Demarcation bull, granting Spain possession of the New World, May 4, 1493.Pope Alexander VI's Demarcation Bull, May 4, 1493. (Gilder Lehrman Collection)
The Papal Bull "Inter Caetera," issued by Pope Alexander VI on May 4, 1493, played a central role in the Spanish conquest of the New World. The document supported Spain’s strategy to ensure its exclusive right to the lands discovered by Columbus the previous year. It established a demarcation line one hundred leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands and assigned Spain the exclusive right to acquire territorial possessions and to trade in all lands west of that line. All others were forbidden to approach the lands west of the line without special license from the rulers of Spain. This effectively gave Spain a monopoly on the lands in the New World.

The Bull stated that any land not inhabited by Christians was available to be "discovered," claimed, and exploited by Christian rulers and declared that "the Catholic faith and the Christian religion be exalted and be everywhere increased and spread, that the health of souls be cared for and that barbarous nations be overthrown and brought to the faith itself." This "Doctrine of Discovery" became the basis of all European claims in the Americas as well as the foundation for the United States’ western expansion. In the US Supreme Court in the 1823 case Johnson v. McIntosh, Chief Justice John Marshall’s opinion in the unanimous decision held "that the principle of discovery gave European nations an absolute right to New World lands." In essence, American Indians had only a right of occupancy, which could be abolished.

The Bull Inter Caetera made headlines again throughout the 1990s and in 2000, when many Catholics petitioned Pope John Paul II to formally revoke it and recognize the human rights of indigenous "non-Christian peoples."

Fanya utafiti kwenye "google" na utapata taarifa yote kamili.

Vic B. (not verified)     Wed, 04/05/2023 @ 01:50am

In reply to by Imara (Mpya) Daima (not verified)

Perfect!

The reason that I requested for the info isn't for me read. No way!
Really wanted to show you and anyone else just how blinded man has been in continuing to hold onto the results of demonicly influenced practices that were based on error and mistakes.

Take for example the enslavement of Israelites in Egypt for over four hundreds years. Harsh as it was, nowhere in the scriptures did our God Almighty command that the Israelites teach their children of the harsh conditions instead, they were commanded to remember their salvation/redemption from slavery and who it is that saved them: God himself.

On the same token, rather than continually incriminate today's white man/woman for acts done several hundreds years back, we, the generation of ex-slaves, can choose to remember the coming out of slavery (if at all we know any details from our ancestors) and who it is really that set us free; God himself.

Do you see the parallelism?

Also, assuming you hail from Kenya, do you recall any of your teachers making an effort to teaching about Maumau, or how badly the Briton was towards the black in Kenya? Exactly! Answer is no memory or knowledge of it whatsoever! Not even is there a course of the same taught in any Kenyan schools. Instead, we focused on moving forward and ways to develop economically, socially and Spiritually and, we did exactly that.

Compare that with America. They insist on teaching about slavery, writing books and making movies of the same. This is wrong! Slavery texts, and movies are man's demonic tactics to keep this old, old wound fresh and alive in the ex-slaves heart. The black. Remember proverbs 4:23

Let bygones be bygones and focus on self development, economic development, among others.

Is it possible that it is indeed the black man's/woman's poor view of himself/herself (due from re-living that sad old wound) that's really behind his/her today's continual suffering by them? That self-fulfilling prophesy?

My opinion. My two cents on this issue. Wake up world!

Vic B. (not verified)     Thu, 04/06/2023 @ 05:00am

You can continue incriminating the white man/woman as evil towards black but, the truth is interns of worldwide population, the Caucasian outnumber all other races esp the Negroid race by far. On the same token, when any good or evil takes place anywhere in the world at large it is likely due from a Caucasian person.

Also, given that the Caucasian race has so far enjoyed both personal and economic development the longest here on earth than any other race, it is likely for them to continue holding onto that feeling of superiority and power and at the same time continue viewing the ex-slaves as weak. Some are worse off than others. Nothing you can do about it. This view of themselves as superior may inadvertently play a role in treating the ex-slaves poorly. The Caucasian has just been at the top for such a long long time that they are almost lost when dealing with by anyone not exhibiting similar traits of SELF-CONFIDENCE, SELF-ASSUREDNESS, WITH CLEAR THINKING as they naturally do.

This is no excuse for going on any killing sprees, however!

Vic B. (not verified)     Thu, 04/13/2023 @ 08:27pm

In reply to by Vic B. (not verified)

Pertaining to the good or bad acts being committed by Caucasians are in numbers of course. Percentage wise, it would be by the negroids. Any bad/evil, at time in the world, is behind a negroid by percentage.

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