Esmond Bradley Martin, one of the world’s leading ivory trade investigators living in Kenya, was on Sunday found stabbed to death in his Nairobi house.
The 75-year-old, who was alone in the Nairobi house, had a stab wound in the neck.
Esmond has authored several ground-breaking investigative reports on rhino and ivory smuggling in Kenya and the trade in China, Vietnam, and Laos.
He was said to have been working on a new expose on trafficking in ivory and rhino horns.
Nairobi DCI boss Ireri Kamwende said they are yet to identify Esmond’s attackers.
His wife, who reported the death, said she found her husband’s lifeless body after coming from a nature walk at around 4pm.
“We have already questioned a gardener and a cook who are employed at the home,” Kamwende said.
Esmond, an American geographer, had been travelling all over the world with his wife, Chryssee Martin, and colleagues Lucy Vigne and Dan Stiles.
They were on a mission to identify ivory and rhino markets, the traffickers and the modern-day uses.
He was a one time UN special envoy for rhino conservation.
Among his achievements was helping persuade China to shut down its legal rhino horn trade in 1993 and ivory trade last year.