After finding the body of LGBTQ+ activist and fashion designer Edwin Chiloba stashed in a metal box on Thursday, January 5, police in Kenya are now investigating his death.

According to the reports, Chiloba’s body was discovered inside a metallic box by the roadside in the town of Kapsaret, Kenya. After witnessing a plateless vehicle dumping the box in the area, some riders alerted the police who discovered the corpse, wearing the same clothes he was seen in on December 31.

The 24-year-old’s body was then taken to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital and is now awaiting a post-mortem to establish the cause of death.

Edwin Chiloba was a well-known LGBTQ+ activist and fashion designer in Kenya, famous for being unapologetic about his queerness in a country where homosexuality is illegal and punishable by 14 years in prison. The Kenyan LGBTQ+ community continues to face violence and discrimination and efforts to decriminalise same-sex activity have been repeatedly thwarted.

On December 16, Chiloba shared a post on Instagram saying that his “movement is for everyone” and “it’s about inclusion”. He then added, “And if I am going to fight what I have been marginalised for, I am going to fight for all marginalised people.”

Edwin Chiloba was an amazing human. He was bold, passionate, his energy was immaculate. He embodied fashion. Someone murdered him cruelly, put his body in a box & dumped his body.

Edwin we speak your name. May yr blood not spill for nothing. Stop killing queer people. pic.twitter.com/aSgwyTSqnM

— Njeri Wa Migwi™ (@NjeriWaMigwi) January 5, 2023

Although human rights organisations are linking Chiloba’s death to his queer identity and activism, police spokesperson Resila Onyango was quoted saying: “We don’t know for now why he was killed that way. Experts are handling the matter”.

Tributes from LGBTQ+ groups and friends of the victim are pouring in on social media, describing Chiloba as “an amazing human” and an “iconic fashion designer”. Fellow queer activist and media personality Anita Nderu shared that she was “heartbroken and devastated”. She then added, “Seeing the comments under the posts highlighting his death are so alarming. We are headed down a very alarming trajectory as a society”.

“How many more members of the LGBTQ+ community have to be murdered before Kenyans realize that your silence empowers the homophobic, it empowers them to act unlawfully and with impunity,” she concluded.

“Edwin’s death reminds us that queer bodies continue to be under attack all over the country,” wrote the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission in an Instagram post.