DCI names another self-confessed serial killer

In yet another case of horrifying child kidnappings and killings, a serial killer in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County, has narrated how he murdered five minors.

Via its social media channels on Saturday, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) identified the man as Evans Wanjala Juma.

The DCI said he committed the crimes between December 31, 2019 and June 15, meaning he escaped the police drag net for more than two years.

Mr Juma was arrested on June 16 after CCTV footage showed him in the company of his latest victim, 13-year-old Linda Cherono.

Cherono went missing on June 11, only for her body to be found on June 15 near Baharini dam, behind the premises of the National Cereals and Produce Board in Moi’s Bridge.

Earlier, residents had told journalists that the suspect was a familiar person but that his home of origin was not well known.

It is said Mr Juma had been targeting young girls under the age of 15.

“The minors all aged between the age of 10 and 15 were lured by the suspect from different locations within Moi’s Bridge in Uasin-Gishu county, before being taken to secluded areas where he defiled and strangled them,” the DCI said.

The DCI further said detectives established that Mr Juma is a “habitual offender with pending warrants of arrest against him”.

It said that in 2018, he defiled two minors in Kibwezi and was arraigned but released on bond.

“After his release he immediately went into hiding prompting a warrant of arrest to be issued against him by the Makindu Law Courts.”

Crime scenes

In killings that appear similar to those reported in Nairobi, linked to self-confessed serial killer Masten Milimu Wanjala, Mr Juma took detectives to five scenes after confessing to defiling and murdering the girls.

He guided a team of detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the homicide department and forensics experts from Nairobi who were in the company of senior detectives from Uasin Gishu County.

The DCI said the suspect led them to locations where the girls’ bodies were found prior to his confession.

“He told us whenever he kills the minors he feels relieved and at peace,” an officer said on condition of anonymity.

Most of the scenes the suspect took the detectives to were thickets near maize plantations and pools of water.

At the locations, detectives collected evidence that will help with Mr Juma’s prosecution once he is arraigned.

The DCI said: “During the re-enactment, homicide detectives, augmented by their scenes of crime, and photographic and acoustics counterparts, documented forensically each of the five murder scenes, as the executioner demonstrated how he abducted, defiled, murdered and dumped the bodies of the minors.”

Two weeks ago an Eldoret court allowed police to detain the suspect for 21 days for further investigations.

Uasin Gishu County Police Commander Ayub Ali said he will be taken to court next week and charged with murder.

The victims

The five girls have been identified as Cherono (13), Mary Elusa (14), Grace Njeri (12), Stacy Nabiso (10) and Lucy Wanjiru (15).

Njeri, 12 disappeared on May 21, 2020 and her body was found on June 18, 2020, at Soronoi farm.

Nabiso went missing on December 31, 2019 while her body recovered from River Nzoia on January 1, 2020.

Elusa was defiled and murdered after going missing on December 19, 2020.

Wanjiru was defiled and killed on January 16.

In all the cases, police said there was evidence of defilement in all the cases.