WASHINGTON — The Silver Spring man sentenced earlier this week to life in prison in the 2016 stabbing death of his pregnant fiancee took his own life in his jail cell, authorities say.
Thierry Nkusu, 35, was found unresponsive in his cell at the Montgomery County detention center during a routine check shortly after 6 p.m. Wednesday night. Police said Nkusu hanged himself and had left several handwritten notes.
In a two-week jury trial in April, Nkusu was found guilty of first-degree murder in the slaying of Maria Mbunga, who was 16 weeks pregnant when police found her body inside her Takoma Park apartment in April 2016.
Police said she had been stabbed multiple times in the belly, neck and chest.
Nkusu claimed an unknown assailant attacked the couple and that he suffered memory loss after the attack.
But in court documents, prosecutors said Nkusu killed Mbunga because he didn’t want to be financially responsible for the baby — and then staged the crime scene to make it look like a home invasion.
In the documents, prosecutors said Nkusu stabbed Mbunga while she was taking a shower inside the apartment, then chased her around continuing to stab her when she tried to flee. Prosecutors said Nkusu spent hours cleaning up blood in the apartment, changing his clothes and even stabbing himself a few times to try to make the crime scene fit the story he told police.
Investigators said Nkusu had only superficial injuries when police found him near an elevator inside the apartment building.
Friends of the couple later told police that Mbunga’s pregnancy was a source of contention for the couple and that Nkusu had said multiple times he would not take responsibility for the child.
Nkusu’s sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, handed down July 2, was the maximum sentence for first-degree murder in Maryland.
Nkusu’s attorneys had filed an appeal after his sentencing.
WTOP’s Megan Cloherty contributed to this report.
