Agnes Tirop’s lonely life, toxic love affair & murder documentary premiers
By Sinda MatikoAn investigative documentary tracing the life and last moments of the world record-beating athlete Agnes Tirop has premiered on Showmax.
The documentary titled Dark Side of Glory: Death in the Heartlands produced by CMG Productions and directed by Arianna Perretta, investigated the murder of three Kenyan female athletes in 2021; Agnes, Edith Muthoni, and Damaris Muthee.
Tirop was found dead on October 13th, 2021 exactly a month after setting a new world record on 12 September 2021, at the Road to Records race in Germany. Agnes was murdered in cold blood just eleven days before her 26th birthday at her home in Iten with her husband Ibrahim Rotich currently standing trial as the main suspect.
“Agnes was stubbed, three wounds on the neck. On the head, she had a big scar. The murderer used a kitchen knife which we found at the scene.” Directorate of Criminal Investigation Police Inspector Andolo Munga narrates, in the new Crime documentary’s latest release on Showmax.
A day before Agnes was found butchered in her house, Muthoni an up-and-coming runner was murdered in cold blood following a domestic quarrel. Her husband was charged with murder as prime suspect.
Six months later Damaris, a Kenyan-Bahrain athlete was found strangled with her decomposing body lying on the bed with a pillow on her face. Damaris’s alleged Ethiopian fugitive boyfriend was named the main suspect.
Those interviewed by Perretta; from police, family, close friends, neighbors coach, and athletes, the reserved star led a distraught lonely life, mushed in a toxic love affair despite her 0n field success.
From the outside, Agnes’ life looked like a sporting fairytale as she went from strength to strength.
But those who spoke to Perretta, paint a picture of a lady who busked in glory on the tracks and fields but quietly led a tumultuous life behind the scenes, drowned in a toxic marriage relationship that would eventually lead to the loss of her life.
The interviewees paint Rotich as a narcissist and a controlling freak who did not allow Agnes to socialize with friends, her family, and even to some extent fellow athletes.
“She wasn’t on good speaking terms with our parents and sometimes when she came home she could never spend a night, she always went back,” Eve Tirop, Agnes’ younger sister claims in the documentary.
According to neighbors, nobody visited the Iten house where Agnes lived with Rotich. the couple was also reported to be sharing one phone. Their house was also installed with a CCTV camera which was connected to the phone.
“I used to know Agnes Tirop as my neighbor. Agnes never lived a happy life, she lived a slave life. I never saw anybody visiting the place (her house) even the brothers and sisters. After training there was a padlock on the door. They never had any friends. They would go to the market, come back, and lock themselves in with a padlock on the door. Nobody could come there, it was like hell,” a friend who requested to be anonymous but whom we will call Mary, recounts.
In a separate interview, Martha Akello, another athlete who lived next door to the couple, told The New Yorker that the couple when together shared a phone.
“We were neighbors, but he did not permit her to mingle with other ladies. He had to accompany her to training. It’s like she was living in prison,” Akello is quoted.
Mary** shared the same observations.
“I told Agnes if this guy cannot let you have a relationship with me and we live nearby then I think you are in the wrong relationship because we could be making dinner and sharing as neighbors, having fun, training together, or things like that. Then Agnes told me, I think you are right because this guy we are using the same phone. I cannot have any secrets even talking to my family I can’t find time to because we are sharing the same phone,”
The late Agnes met her then-to-be husband Rotich in 2010 while still a High school student. She was 14, then, and Rotich, 29.
The union didn’t appease her parents as Agnes dropped out of school. When the matter was reported to the police, Agnes and Rotich eloped eventually moving to Iten where they lived together in the house where her lifeless body was found on that fateful day.
Agnes and Rotich would later get married in secret in 2016. Her family was not invited.
On the fateful day when she was butchered, Agnes had just reconciled with Rotich after he pleaded with her to return to their matrimonial home she had deserted for months after he allegedly assaulted her.
Her lifeless body was found lying on the bed with knife wounds.
Rotich was arrested five days later in Mombasa and was charged with murder in November 2021 which he denies. He was released on bail on November 2023 after two years in custody.