Mukuru dump: Kenyan ‘serial killer’ Jomaisi Khalusha arrested in Nairobi

Kenyan police have arrested a man they described as a “serial killer” suspected of being behind the gruesome murders of nine women whose mutilated bodies were found in a disused quarry used as a dumping ground.

Police say Collins Jomaisi Khalusha, 33, has confessed to killing 42 women since 2022, including his own wife.

The suspect was arrested in a bar early Monday morning while watching the Euro final.

Kenya has been in shock and outrage since the first dismembered body was found in the Mukuru quarry in the capital, Nairobi, on Friday.

“(He) confessed to having lured, killed and disposed of 42 bodies of women at the dump site, all murdered between 2022 and last Thursday,” said Mohamed Amin, head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

Many Kenyans are wondering how 42 people could have been murdered in the space of two years without the police noticing.

Mr Amin said that after his arrest, the suspect led police to his home, about 100 metres from the crime scene.

Police showed media some of the items allegedly recovered from the suspect’s home, including 10 phones, a laptop, ID cards and women’s personal clothing.

They also found a machete they “believed to have been used to dismember the victims” and nine bags similar to those used to dispose of the bodies.

Since Friday, police have sealed off the dump where the bodies were found in various stages of decomposition.

The victims were aged between 18 and 30 and were all killed in the same manner, police said.

While authorities have confirmed that nine bodies have been found so far in the quarry, local residents claim the number is higher.

Joseph Waweru, who helped recover the bodies, told the BBC he counted 16 bodies, all badly dismembered.

Police said they were still questioning the suspect to establish a motive for the killing and that he would be arraigned in court on Tuesday.

They said his arrest followed a “forensic analysis” of a mobile phone belonging to one of the victims, Josephine Mulongo Owino, “where mobile money transactions were carried out on the same day she disappeared”.

Autopsies are being conducted on the bodies, police said.

They asked families “who believe their loved ones may have been victims of these gruesome murders” to report it to the police.

“It is clear that we are dealing with a serial killer, a psychopathic serial killer who has no respect for human life, who has no respect and no dignity,” Mr. Amin said.

Emmanuel Ogongo, whose sister went missing on June 28, said he identified a body at the dump site that resembled her.

He said the body had the same hairstyle and outfit she was wearing when she disappeared.

Only the torso has been found so far.

A second person with a phone belonging to one of the victims was also arrested and was being treated either as an accomplice or a suspect, he said.

Kenya’s police watchdog had earlier said it was investigating whether police were involved in the crimes because the dumpsite is close to a police station.

Officers working there were transferred to ensure “fair and impartial investigations” into the “heinous” deaths, acting police chief Douglas Kanja said earlier.

The Independent Police Oversight Authority said “widespread allegations of police involvement in unlawful arrests (and) abductions” meant it was undertaking a preliminary investigation to establish whether there was a police connection.

Hussein Khalid, head of campaign group Haki Africa, told the BBC that police must determine how the killings took place just metres from a police station.

The discovery of the bodies comes at a difficult time for Kenyan police.

Human rights groups have accused police of shooting dozens of people protesting against planned tax increases earlier this month, some of them fatally.

Many Kenyans are calling on police to investigate allegations of kidnappings and killings during the protests as quickly as they investigated the Mukuru deaths.

The killings are seen as the latest failure by police to tackle crime effectively, particularly because they happened so close to a police station.

Some Kenyans are wondering why police have failed to solve the death of Rita Waeni, whose dismembered body was found earlier this year in a short-term rental apartment in Nairobi.

Like the previous horrific deaths, Waeni’s brutal murder has shocked and angered many Kenyans. It has sparked an online campaign calling for the protection of women and girls.

Last year, Kenyans were horrified after the remains of hundreds of people associated with a doomsday cult were discovered in the coastal town of Malindi on the Indian Ocean coast.

Paul Nthenge Mackenzie went on trial in Mombasa earlier last week, charged with terrorism and murder over the deaths of more than 440 of his supporters.