Kenya police say suspect in dumped bodies case confessed to 42 murders

Nairobi, Kenya — Kenyan police said Monday they had arrested a "serial killer" suspect who had confessed to murdering 42 women before dumping their dismembered bodies in a Nairobi rubbish tip.

Since Friday, a total of nine mutilated and dismembered bodies trussed in plastic bags have been pulled from the garbage site in the Mukuru slum area in the south of the capital, a gruesome discovery that has horrified the nation.

Acting Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja said the 33-year-old prime suspect, named as Collins Jumaisi Khalusha, was arrested near a bar at around 3pm (0000 GMT) on Monday.

"We are dealing with a serial killer, a psychopathic serial killer who has no respect for human life," the head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin said.

He told reporters the arrest came after a joint operation by the DCI and the National Police Service.

"The suspect confessed to have lured, killed and disposed of 42 female bodies at the dumping site," Amin said, adding that Khalusha claimed the murders took place between 2022 and July 11 this year.

"Unfortunately, and this is very sad, the suspect alleged that his first victim was his wife... who he strangled to death, before dismembering her body and disposing it at the same site," he said.

Nine bodies have so far been pulled from the crime scene, according to police on Monday. Police had said on Sunday that those that had been recovered so far were all female bodies.

Kanja said autopsies on the victims would be carried out on Monday.

Amin also told reporters that they had arrested a second suspect, "who was caught with one of the handsets from one of the victims".

Pressure on police

The discoveries have also thrown another spotlight on Kenyan police and added more pressure on President William Ruto, who is struggling to contain a crisis over widespread anti-government protests that saw dozens of demonstrators killed.

Kenya's police watchdog, the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA), had said on Friday had said it was investigating whether there was any police involvement in the bodies found in the tip, noting that the dumpsite was just 100 metres (yards) from a police station.

Kanja, who was appointed only on Friday amid the fallout over last month's protest bloodshed, told reporters last week that all officers at the police post located near the quarry had been transferred.

Still, tensions ran high at the crime scene over the weekend, as volunteers combed through the vast piles of rubbish in search of more victims.

Trouble briefly erupted when locals tried to take a bag they had hauled out of the quarry to the police station, but were met with volleys of tear gas, an AFP journalist at the scene said.

Kenyan police are often accused by rights groups of using excessive force and carrying out unlawful killings or running hit squads, but few have faced justice.

AFP