U.S. Missionary Dies While Awaiting Kenya Police Query

A 63-year-old American missionary, Lyle Hutson, died Wednesday while waiting to be questioned by police about allegations that his mission has illegally imported guns and radio transmitters, his widow said.

Leta Mae Hutson said in an interview that police had detained her husband and another American on Friday and held them without charge. The two were released Monday with instructions to report daily to security officers. She quoted Kenyan authorities as saying her husband died of a heart attack Wednesday morning in a jailhouse waiting room. But she said she was given few details.

J.P. Mwangovya, deputy secretary of internal security, said that Hutson “just collapsed” Wednesday morning after reading a newspaper article in which President Daniel Arap Moi was quoted as accusing his mission of undermining Kenya’s security.

Hutson and Richard Scott Hamilton Jr., 25, were arrested Friday, their associates said. Both men worked for the East Africa Christian Mission based in Medford, Ore., their hometown. Hamilton’s father, Richard Scott Hamilton Sr., 49, is director of the mission, which has operated in western Kenya for 10 years.