Justus Kebabe
A Minnesota man who killed his wife and children faces up to 76 years in prison when sentenced in St. Paul today at a hearing that will end a sad saga for family members in Jersey City.
Justus Ogendi Kebabe, 43, killed his wife Bilha Omare, and their son, Kinley Ogendi, 12, and daughter, Ivyn Ogendi, 9, in their home in Vadnais Heights, Minn., on Oct. 14. He pleaded guilty on Oct. 29.
The bodies were flown to Jersey City on Nov. 10 for a Nov. 15 funeral, but it was postponed because Bilha Omare’s mother, brother, sister and uncle, who live in Kenya, were denied visas by the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.
Family members here vowed there would be no burial until the relatives from Kenya could attend. At the same time, Kebabe’s family was lobbying tribal leaders in Kenya in an attempt to have the bodies flown there for burial.
The murderer’s brother was quoted by Kenyan news organizations saying that tradition gave his family the right to bury the victims in their ancestral home. Family members of the victims said murdering their loved ones erased the tradition.
The Jersey Journal notified Sen. Robert Menendez of the visa situation and Menendez and Rep. Donald Payne, D-Newark, lobbied the embassy in Nairobi on behalf of Omare’s family. Within days the visas were issued and the Kenyan relatives flew to New Jersey in time for a private viewing and burial on Nov. 19.
Kebabe faces 251/2 years on each count of three counts of intentional, second-degree murder and prosecutors will ask Ramsey County District Court Judge Elena Ostby to have the sentences run consecutively, said Ramsey County Attorney’s Office spokesman Paul Gustafson. Kebabe’s lawyer is expected to ask for concurrent sentences.
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