Ex-Boyfriend Dies from Burns After Attacking Olympic Runner

Ex-Boyfriend Dies from Injuries After Brutal Attack

The man who set fire to Olympic marathon run­ner Rebec­ca Chep­tegei last Sun­day has also died from injuries he sus­tained in the fatal attack on the Ugan­dan athlete. 

Chep­tegei, 33, trag­i­cal­ly passed away in a hos­pi­tal in Eldoret, Kenya, days after she suf­fered 80% burns when ex-boyfriend Dick­son Ndiema threw petrol on her and set her alight amid a bit­ter argument.

Cheptegei Succumbs to Organ Failure After Attack

Chep­tegei suf­fered mul­ti­ple organ fail­ure and died last week. Ndiema also received con­sid­er­able burns in the attack and was rushed to the same hos­pi­tal, where he was set to be arrest­ed once he had recov­ered enough from his injuries. How­ev­er, offi­cials at the hos­pi­tal con­firmed that Ndiema also suc­cumbed to his injuries late last night.

Brutal Murder and Suspected Cover-Up Attempt

The sav­age attack on Chep­tegei took place on Sun­day, Sep­tem­ber 1. Ndiema is said to have snapped and doused her with petrol from a jer­ry can before set­ting her alight. 

Neigh­bors who heard the com­mo­tion tried to extin­guish the flames, but were unsuc­cess­ful. Ndiema was lat­er found to have also sus­tained burns, sug­gest­ing he may have attempt­ed to cov­er up the murder.

Cheptegei’s Promising Athletic Career Tragically Cut Short

Chep­tegei, a for­mer sergeant in the Ugan­da Peo­ple’s Defence Forces, had dis­played immense tal­ent for endurance run­ning and was com­pet­ing in marathons and oth­er long-dis­tance events at the high­est level. 

In 2022, she won gold in the moun­tain race at the World Moun­tain and Trail Run­ning Cham­pi­onships and fin­ished sec­ond in the Abu Dhabi marathon.