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Outdoors the home the place Rebecca Cheptegei lived, flowers have been positioned on grass that was charred because the runner rolled on the bottom to place out the flames engulfing her.
The 33-year-old Olympic runner died on Thursday from accidents sustained when her former associate allegedly doused her with petrol and set her ablaze days earlier whereas at residence together with her two daughters.
“I used to be in the home and heard folks screaming, ‘hearth’. Once I got here out, I noticed Rebecca working in direction of my home on hearth, shouting ‘assist me,” Agnes Barabara, Ms Cheptegei’s rapid neighbour, tearfully advised the BBC.
“As I went to search for water and began calling out for assist, her assailant appeared once more and doused extra petrol on her, however then he too acquired burned and he ran off in direction of the backyard to attempt to put it out. We then went to assist Rebecca.”
Ms Barabara mentioned she’d by no means seen anybody “burn alive” earlier than, and couldn’t eat for days after the incident.
“She was an excellent neighbour and only recently she shared with me maize she’d harvested.”
Police are treating the loss of life as a homicide, together with her ex-partner named by police as the principle suspect.
Native directors mentioned the 2 had been in battle concerning the small piece of land the place Ms Cheptegei lived, with the case awaiting decision.
He can be arraigned in court docket on fees as soon as he’s out of hospital, the place he continues to get well from accidents he sustained throughout the incident.
“We’ve got opened a file, investigations are at a sophisticated stage,” mentioned divisional prison investigations officer Kennedy Apindi.
Ms Cheptegei’s mom Agnes mentioned her daughter “was at all times obedient as a toddler, and really type and jovial all via her life”.
Emmanual Kimutai, a buddy and neighbour who attended college with Ms Cheptegei, described her as a “very thrilling” and “decided” individual.
“Even in main college she was already doing very properly in athletics, she was our champion,” Mr Kimutai mentioned.
The Olympian was born on the Kenyan aspect of the Kenya-Uganda border, however selected to cross over and characterize Uganda to chase her athletics dream when she didn’t get a breakthrough in Kenya.
When she began entering into athletics, she joined the Uganda Individuals’s Defence Forces in 2008 and rose to sergeant rank.
Her profession included competing within the Olympics in Paris this yr. Though she got here forty fourth within the marathon, folks in her residence space known as her “champion”.
She lived in Chepkum, a village in Kenya about 25km (15 miles) from the border with Uganda, in a rural space whose predominant financial exercise is farming.
Residents additionally are likely to cattle and it’s common to see cows, goats, and sheep grazing outdoors properties. The broader space, known as Trans-Nzoia county, is properly often called Kenya’s greatest producer of maize, which is the principle ingredient for the nation’s staple meals.
Locals at a procuring centre close to her home spoke fondly a few lady they often waved at as she skilled alongside the highway at any time when she was not in competitors or coaching in Uganda.
Sort and humble have been the phrases typically talked about by folks there.
Whereas celebrated as an athlete, her private life was in turmoil. Her former classmate mentioned her efficiency on the Olympics was as a result of she didn’t “have peace” as a result of battle together with her ex-partner that started final yr.
“They used to dwell collectively however started falling out final yr due to cash,” her brother Jacob recalled. “He requested my sister: what do you do with all the cash you make?”
Police advised the BBC that the 2 had beforehand reported home disputes in several stations – which they withdrew.
As Ms Cheptegei’s household waits for justice, they proceed to organize her ultimate journey. She can be laid to relaxation on 14 September at their ancestral residence in Bukwo, Uganda.
The Ugandan is the third athlete to be killed in Kenya within the final three years, the place intimate companions are named as the principle suspects by police. Athlete-led gender-based violence activist group, Tirop’s Angels, mentioned the development should finish.
“What’s heart-breaking is her kids witnessed their mom’s assault,” Joan Chelimo, a co-founder of Tirop’s Angels mentioned, as she fought again tears.
“This violence towards athletes should cease.”
