By REUBEN OLITA
July 21, 2026|The Kajei Bridge has always been a place of passage—of lorries rumbling toward town, of traders hurrying with their wares, of a young man named Daniel Ikapolok Karakacha showing up each morning to earn his daily bread.
But on Sunday morning, it became the scene of a family’s worst nightmare.The body of Daniel—known to all as DJ Marcos—was discovered under the very bridge where he worked as a loader.
The man who spent his days helping others carry their burdens had become the one being carried away—to the Frapa Mortuary in Kocholia, where his body now lies under cold preservation, waiting for answers that may never come.—He left home at 7 a.m., just like any other day.
His aunt, Nancy Okuche, recounts the ordinary morning that has now become extraordinary in its tragedy. Daniel kissed his family goodbye, walked out the door, and headed to the Kajei Bridge stage—his workplace, his lifeline, the place where he supported his young family.
“He left for his normal duties,” she says, her voice trembling. “Only for us to receive the devastating news that his body had been found near the Kajei forest and dumped in a ditch.”
Dumped. The word hangs heavy. A human being reduced to cargo.—But the grief is matched by confusion.Rumours swirled at the scene—whispers that Daniel may have suffered an epileptic seizure and fallen into Kajei Stream.
His family has rejected that theory with the finality of those who know their own blood.”We categorically reject that theory,” Okuche insists. “DJ Marcos never had a history of epilepsy from childhood to adulthood.”She adds that the family saw no visible injuries on his body—no answers, only more questions.
How does a man who wakes up healthy, kisses his children goodbye and walks to work end up dead under a bridge?—Teso North OCPD Charles Chepkong’a has confirmed that investigations are underway.
A postmortem will be conducted to establish the cause of death.But for the family, the wait is a fresh torment. Each passing hour without answers is another hour of imagining what their son, their husband, their father, endured in his final moments.—DJ Marcos was not just any young man.
He was the son of retired Olobai Assistant Chief Tiberius Karakacha—a man who spent his life serving the community, maintaining law and order. Now his own family finds itself on the other side of tragedy, seeking justice, seeking truth.He leaves behind a widow and two children—children who will grow up with the haunting question of how their father died.
A wife who will go to bed each night wondering if anyone will ever be held accountable.—As the sun rises over Kajei Bridge tomorrow, life will resume. Lorries will rumble past. Traders will haggle.
Another loader will take Daniel’s place at the stage.But for one family, the bridge will always be the place where their son, their husband, their father, took his last journey—and never came home.—The body of Daniel Ikapolok Karakacha is currently preserved at Frapa Mortuary in Kocholia awaiting postmortem. Anyone with information about the circumstances surrounding his death is urged to contact the nearest police station.