Girl's body parts exhumed in Moi's Bridge serial killer case

Homicide detectives have exhumed the body of one of five young girls whose deaths are linked to confessed serial killer Evans Juma Wanjala.

All were defiled and strangled. Some were burnt and charred.

Exhumation of Grace Njefi took place on Saturday.

She was buried last year at her parents' home on Karara Nyakinyua farm near Moi’s Bridge in Uasin Gishu county.

Njeri’s dismembered body was found a month after she had gone missing. They were collected and buried together. 

The remains were taken to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital morgue in Eldoret for an autopsy and collection of samples for DNA testing.

Investigating officer Peter Kamau had told an Eldoret court they needed to exhume the body as the parts had been buried without an autopsy and collection of DNA samples.

He was granted 21 more days to hold the suspect before he is charged.

Senior resident magistrate Naomi Wairimu gave the exhumation orders.

Relatives and residents watched from a distance as police first sealed off the area.

The detective said they are investigating fresh reports the suspect may have killed several other young girls, apart from five who have been identified.

“Your Honour, the investigations is enormous considering we have other complaints to deal with. We need to tie up all the issues before we present the suspect in court," Kamau said.

He said Wanjala has three other pending sexual offence cases in Makindu where arrest warrants have been issued.

Last month the court released Daniel Kipkurgat Maru, who had also been arrested as a suspect in the killings. Police requested his release, saying they found no evidence.

He said a mental assessment has been carried out on Wanjala, who has been found fit to stand trial. Some files have already been forwarded to the DPP before he is taken to court to enter a plea.

“We have also extracted a confession from him and recorded statements from several witnesses," Kamau said.

Kamau said police and the suspect have visited other murder scenes where the suspect reenacted the crimes.

Wanjla is linked to the killing of five girls aged between 10 and 15 years. He was initially presented in court by video link.

Following his arrest last month, the DCI said in a statement he had brutally murdered five girls after assaulting and defiling them. 

The suspect is said to committed the murders between December 31, 2019, and June 15 this year. 

The DCI statement said the minors were lured from different locations within Moi’s Bridge before being taken to secluded areas.

"In a chilling confession by the killer who took detectives on a re-enactment of how he executed his ghastly missions, he gave a blow-by-blow account of how he took away the lives of Linda Cherono, 13, Mary Elusa, 14, Grace Njeri, 12, Stacy Nabiso, 10 and Lucy Wanjiru, 15, after defiling them," DCI said in the statement.

During the re-enactment, the suspect was dressed in a PPE along with several officers to conceal him from a lynch mob.

“It’s so shocking a human being can do all this to young children. We are pleased he will face the law," Moi's Bridge resident Lenah Kemboi said.

Police said Linda Cherono’s body was found on June 15 this year near Baharini Dam, after she had been missing for a few day. There were signs of physical injuries, defilement and strangulation.

News of her murder sparked protests along the busy Eldoret-Kitale highway.

The DCI said all the girls were killed the same way. In two instances, the victims were staged in gunny bags, covered with vegetables and left to rot or be eaten by animals.

Each of crime scene was forensically documented. Police took photos, videos and made audio recordings.

Forensic analysis at the DCI lab, positively linked the suspect to the girls.

On various dates in 2018, the suspect had defiled two minors in Kibwezi. After arraignment, he was released on bond and went into hiding.

Fresh arrest warrants were issued.

(Edited by V. Graham)