Prosecutors said Nobert Matara killed Tracy Nyariki in 2024 after waiting inside her home.
NEWARK, Del. — A Delaware man has been sentenced to life in prison after admitting he killed his former girlfriend, Tracy Nyariki, in a 2024 attack that prosecutors said began after he waited for her inside her home.
Nobert Matara, 33, was sentenced June 26 in New Castle County Superior Court after pleading guilty to first-degree murder. The Delaware Department of Justice said the sentence closes the criminal case in the killing of Nyariki, who was found dead after her employer reported she had not appeared for work for several days.
Prosecutors said Matara waited at Nyariki’s Newark-area home on Dec. 17, 2024, for several hours before she arrived. When she returned, authorities said, he attacked her, stabbed her 58 times, dismembered her body and placed the remains in a suitcase. Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings said the work of New Castle County police and state prosecutors “brought this heinous criminal to justice.”
The case began as a welfare check on Dec. 20, 2024, after Nyariki’s employer contacted authorities because she had not shown up for work. Officers went to an apartment in the 2700 block of Stone Place in Bear and found suspicious circumstances that raised concern for her safety. Investigators later found Matara at a motel in Aberdeen, Maryland, with Nyariki’s body in the trunk of his car, prosecutors said.
Nyariki was 31, according to reports, and had moved to the United States from Nairobi, Kenya, to pursue a career in nursing. People who knew her described her as caring and focused on helping others. Her death drew grief from relatives, friends and members of the Kenyan community as the case moved from the search for her to a murder prosecution.
Matara pleaded guilty in April 2026, avoiding a trial and admitting responsibility for the killing. The life sentence was imposed for first-degree murder, the most serious homicide charge under Delaware law. Prosecutors did not announce any additional pending charges after sentencing, and the state said the court’s decision means Matara will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Jennings said her thoughts were with Nyariki’s family and said she hoped the outcome would provide “some degree of peace and closure.” The statement marked the state’s final public update after more than a year of investigation, court hearings and preparation by police and prosecutors.
The case now stands closed in court after Matara’s guilty plea and life sentence. The Delaware Department of Justice announced the sentencing July 2, six days after it was handed down in New Castle County Superior Court.