It’s been two years since Irene Gakwa’s family has spoken to her as they continue to grapple with their grief in the face of unanswered questions. Namely, what happened to her?
Gakwa, now 34, disappeared from the home she shared with her live-in boyfriend in Gillette, Nathan Hightman, in late February 2022.
Hightman, who is considered by police to be a person of interest in her disappearance, is serving three to six years in state prison after pleading guilty to three felonies related to financial crimes against Gakwa.
But Hightman, now 40, contends that Gakwa left on her own.
He told police she came home from dinner one night in late February and told him she was unhappy and wanted to leave Wyoming. He said she then left in a dark-colored SUV with her belongings packed into two plastic bags.
Hightman has not been charged with any crime related to her disappearance, though he’s currently under investigation by the Torrington Police Department for an unknown incident that happened while he was incarcerated in the minimum-security prison there. He’s since been moved to the Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins.
Since his first arrest in May 2022, police have remained mum about additional searches at the home the couple shared in north Gillette and all warrants have been sealed. In October 2022, police conducted a nearly eight-hour search on the property with several boxes being seen removed. It’s not clear what led to that search or what was found.
The Gillette Police Department continues to actively investigate Gakwa’s disappearance, said Brent Wasson, deputy chief of police. But there are no new updates to report at this time.
Final Messages
On Thursday, the pastor at Francis Kambo’s church in Nairobi, Kenya, had a special prayer for Gakwa. Kambo is Gakwa’s father, and discussed his daughter and the hole her absence has had on him and his family with a heavy heart.
Gakwa’s two older brothers, Kennedy Wainaina and Kris Gakwa, who live in Meridien, Idaho, were visiting their parents in Kenya that day.
Though his heart was full at having his family home, his grief was palpable as he spoke of the church service that morning.
“He [the pastor] told me to take it as it is,” Kambo told Cowboy State Daily over Facebook Messenger. “But there are still some things I can’t believe.”
For starters, he still expects his daughter to call him in the middle of the night. Gakwa was close to her parents and spoke to them over video calls daily, if not twice a day.
This was their first clue that something was wrong, when Gakwa stopped communicating with them.
Kambo’s last video chat with his daughter was Feb. 24, 2022. It also was the first time Gakwa referenced a move to Texas. Kambo asked if she needed any money for the move.
Gakwa replied, “No Dad I am well …”
Kambo also noticed a change in Gakwa’s texting style. The two had always texted via WhatsApp in both English and Swahili, interchangeably. This is also when she began making excuses for why she couldn’t do a video call.
He questioned whether these texts were actually written by his daughter.
On Feb. 28, Gakwa told her father she’d dropped her phone in water and the microphone was no longer working. Finally, on March 9, Gakwa texted her father for the last time, promising she’d would text him soon with her new number.
This is when Kambo contacted her older brothers, who ultimately drove to Gillette from Idaho in late March to report her officially missing.
Local residents gathered with the Gakwa family at a vigil at Legacy Park in Gillette in July 2022 to share memories of Irene Gakwa. (Courtesy Stacy Koester) 
A young Irene Gakwa stands with her father, Francis Kambo, in Kenya. (Courtesy Gakwa Family) 
Irene Gakwa stands between her two older brothers, Kennedy Wainaina, left, and Chris Gakwa. Meanwhile, she remains missing since early 2022. (Courtesy Gakwa Family) 
Stacy Koester stands in downtown Gillette Sept. 15, 2022, after a judge dismissed a stalking protection order request filed by Nathan Hightman. (Jen Kocher for Cowboy State Daily)
Cryptic Clues
Most surprisingly to her brothers and family was the fact that Gakwa had moved to Wyoming at all. Up until this point, Wainaina said they thought she’d been living in Arizona.
His sister hated the cold and wanted to move south where it was warmer, he said.
They also were under the impression that she’d broken up with Hightman and had moved to Arizona with a friend in July 2021.
In fact, when Wainaina received a piece of mail for Gakwa, she gave him an address in Green Valley, Arizona — a city of about 22,600 people 20 miles south of Tucson — where he could mail the letter to, and it was never returned.
A public records search for Gawka listed addresses for her in Meridian, Idaho, where she lived when she moved to the United States in 2019 to be close to her brothers and their families and to attend nursing school.
This is where she met Hightman on Craigslist, and the two dated off and on for about 18 months before moving to Wyoming in July 2021, which also is one of the addresses listed.
Gakwa is also tied to an address in San Antonio, Texas, where she supposedly moved in March 2022 after leaving Hightman.
However, Wasson said the Gillette police have vetted this, but have found no connection between Gakwa and that address.
There’s no listing for Gakwa in Arizona, either.
Wainaina thinks his sister’s secrecy was part coercion from Hightman as well as the fact that she knew her family didn’t approve of him.
Initially, Wainaina and the family tried to get to know Hightman. He and Gakwa would come for dinners, and once they reciprocated by inviting the family over to their apartment in Idaho.
"I didn’t get a great feeling from him,” Kennedy recalled.
Hightman, meanwhile, seemed to want Gakwa’s older brother’s approval and repeatedly asked for permission to give Gakwa a promise ring to which Wainaina suggested he slow down and get to know his sister first.
False Arrest
The falling out point seems to be a bizarre encounter in which Hightman accused Gakwa of attempting to buy a $9,176 plane ticket to Kenya using his debit card.
According to an Aug. 18, 2020, redacted report from the Meridian Police Department in which Gakwa’s name was not mentioned, Hightman accused his “female partner” who “was originally from a small town in Kenya” of illegally using his credit card to buy the ticket. Whoever had purchased the ticket had used a Seattle address.
Gakwa, meanwhile, vehemently denied the charges, telling police that she thought Hightman likely bought the ticket himself.
About three weeks later, Hightman again called police to recant his allegation against Gakwa, who he said he’d since learned didn’t actually buy the ticket.
Instead, Hightman told police, according to the report, that someone – likely one of his former co-workers – had bought the ticket after downloading the application TeamViewer, which allows another user to access that person’s computer remotely.
Ultimately, the Ada County Idaho Prosecutor’s Office declined to file charges.
After this event, Gakwa and Hightman began pulling back from family functions, which Wainaina said made them believe that Hightman was controlling and intentionally isolating his sister from the family.
Even after an intense search for Irene Gakwa, a nursing student from Kenya living in Gillette, Wyoming, she remains missing. (Jen Kocher, Cowboy State Daily) 
Nathan Highman, back, in court. (Cowboy State Daily Staff) 
Police and FBI agents searched Nathan Wightman's house after Irene Gakwa disappeared in February 2022. (Cowboy State Daily Staff)
Feet On The Ground
Gakwa also has an adopted family in Gillette, who have made it their mission to find answers for the family.
Led by Gillette resident private investigator Stacy Koester, the group has done more than a dozen searches for a 55-gallon drum that police asked the public to be on the lookout for in May 2022.
In the months following Gakwa’s disappearance, Koester posted regular TikTok videos about her group’s search efforts, which drew the ire of Hightman. In September 2022, he applied for a protective stalking order against Koester, who he claimed was harassing him, which was ultimately dismissed by Crook County Circuit Court Judge Lynda Bush.
Koester, too, is eager for answers, but said she has confidence in local law enforcement.
“As more and more time passes, there’s a lot of anxiety about the justice Irene’s family will get someday,” she said. “However, I am very confident in our detectives and have faith they will get this case closed and justice will be served.”
Lingering Questions
Meanwhile, the family waits for law enforcement to investigate what happened to Gakwa.
For Wainaina, having answers would mean the world to him and his family, he said.
“It has been two long years, and we still don’t know what happened,” he said. “Our entire family misses Irene greatly, especially our extended family here in Kenya.”
Ultimately, Kambo noted, Hightman holds the answers as to what happened to his daughter.
He misses her dearly and takes solace in recalling her childhood, which is full of memories of his daughter.
Several make him laugh. He remembers all the tricks she used to play on him, like the time she told him the matron at her boarding school wanted to see him. He drove over to the school to find Gakwa laughing. The matron had not wanted to see him; rather, she’d missed him and had tricked him into visiting.
“She would be laughing and would do anything, that girl,” he said with a wan smile. “Oh, how I miss my girl.”
He recalled the first time he took Gakwa on her first flight.
Kambo, a retired airline mechanic, took his children into the cockpit. His sons focused on the blue sky, while his daughter was fixated on the all the colorful lights on the flight instruments.
“It was like they had two completely different views,” Kambo said. “The boys saw the sky, but she was looking at the panel of instruments trying to figure out how things worked.”
Kambo shook his head and stared off into the distance in silence.
“She was always so confident her dad would sort things out,” he said softly.
Now, Kambo waits patiently for police to investigate as the days — and now years — tick by while he and his family yearn for answers. It’s difficult every day, he said, but he keeps himself busy and tries not to get lost in the memories of his daughter.
Ultimately, he said, the truth will be revealed, one way or another.
“You can always hide something from humanity, but you can’t hide it from God,” he said.
More Coverage
2 Years After Vanishing, New Investigation Into Boyfriend Of Irene Gakwa
Fiancé of Missing Kenyan Irene Gakwa Pleads Guilty to Felony, Financial Crimes
Fiancé Of Missing Gillette Woman Pleads Not Guilty To Felonies Related To Crimes Against Her
Fiancé of Missing Gillette Woman Seen Purchasing Boots and Shovel, Arrested on Multiple Felonies
Boyfriend of Missing Gillette Woman Charged with Multiple Felonies
Boyfriend Now Considered ‘Person of Interest’ In Missing Gillette Woman Case
Authorities Seek Help in Locating Missing Gillette Woman; Man Living With Woman Not Cooperative
Jen Kocher can be reached at jen@cowboystatedaily.com.
