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Kenya: Murders fueled by hatred for women? Psychopathic serial killer confesses to killing 42 women

Collins Jumaisi Khalusha was arrested after many bodies were recovered from a quarry

Volunteers carry a body of an unknown person retrieved, with seven others, from a dumpsite in Mukuru slums, in Nairobi, Kenya | Reuters

Suspected serial killer, Collins Jumaisi Khalusha, has confessed to the gruesome murder of 42 women, including his wife, over the past two years. According to police, several bodies were recovered at a quarry in Nairobi, which led to the arrest of Khalusha. 

Khalusha, 33, lives at a walkable distance from the quarry in Mukuru neighbourhood. He was arrested by the Kenya police on Monday from Soweto, where he had gone to watch the Euro 2024 final match. 

Douglas Kanja Kirocho, head of police, said nine bodies were recovered so far.  "It is crystallising that we are dealing with a serial killer, a psychopathic serial killer who has no respect for human life," said Amin Mohamed, the head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations. 

Khalusha confessed that he "lured" women, killed them and disposed of the bodies in the quarry, which is abandoned and used as a dump site.

According to Amin, all women were killed between 2022 and 2024.

It was the forensic analysis of a mobile phone of one of the victims, Josphine Mulongo Owino, that led to the arrest of Khalusha. Police found records of money transactions to Khalusha before she went missing. 

As the investigation was going on, the police had found several mobile phones, identity cards, a machete, industrial rubber gloves, a dozen nylon sacks and rolls of sellotape from his rented house. 

While speaking at a press conference, Kanja said the bodies "were severely dismembered, in different states of decomposition, and left in sacks." 

Khalusha’s first victim was his wife, whom he "strangled to death before dismembering her body and disposing it at the site." 

“From his interrogation, all his victims have been murdered in like manner,” said Amin.

Meanwhile, a group of female leaders called for enhanced protection for Kenyan women after increasing incidents of femicide.

“Those women might have been killed today, but which woman is next in line?” asked Kajiado lawmaker Leah Sankaire Sopiato at a press briefing. “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.”

Earlier this month President William Ruto said reports of abductions by state agents were regrettable and vowed actions against officers found responsible for inaction.