Kenyan police have reported that a suspected serial killer has confessed to murdering 42 women over the past two years, sparking urgent calls for stronger measures against gender-based violence.
Authorities identified the suspect as 33-year-old Collins Jumaisi Khalusha, who allegedly “lured, killed, and disposed of 42 female bodies,” with only nine recovered so far.
Khalusha was arrested at 3 a.m. local time on Monday in Soweto, east of Nairobi, outside a club where he had been watching the Euro 2024 soccer final. This information was disclosed by Kenya’s Director of Criminal Investigations, Mohamed Amin, during a press briefing.
“During interrogation, the suspect admitted to luring, killing, and disposing of 42 female bodies at a dumpsite, all murdered between 2022 and July 11, 2024,” Amin stated.
Acting Police Inspector General Douglas Kanja confirmed that post-mortem examinations are being conducted on the nine recovered bodies.
In a news conference on Sunday, prior to Khalusha’s arrest, Kanja described the condition of the bodies as “severely dismembered, in different states of decomposition, and left in sacks.” Amin added, “We are dealing with a psychopathic serial killer who has no respect for life.”
Khalusha led officers to his rented single-room house, located about 100 meters (328 feet) from the crime scene. Among the items found were a machete, 12 nylon sacks, industrial rubber gloves, a hard drive, and eight smartphones.
According to Amin, the suspect’s first victim was his wife, whom he “strangled to death before dismembering her body and disposing of it at the site.” He stated that all subsequent victims were murdered in a similar manner.
Khalusha’s arrest was facilitated by forensic analysis of a mobile phone belonging to one of the victims, Josphine Mulongo Owino. Mobile money transactions conducted on the day she disappeared led investigators to the suspect.
The first six bodies were discovered on Friday by residents of Kware in Nairobi’s Mukuru kwa Njenga neighborhood. The bodies were found in an “abandoned quarry,” which is now “filled with water and used as a dumpsite.”
Police revealed on Monday that Khalusha lived within walking distance of the dumpsite, raising questions about how he evaded detection for two years. The site is also near a police station.
In response to the increasing cases of femicide, a group of female leaders called for enhanced protections for Kenyan women. Kajiado lawmaker Leah Sankaire Sopiato remarked, “Those women might have been killed today, but which woman is next in line? It is so sad that someone who killed 42 people was still roaming out there. Women’s lives must count, and women’s lives must be protected.”