The death toll from a Kenyan cult that practised starvation has risen to 201, as search teams uncovered 22 additional dead from a coastal woodland on Saturday, May 13, according to the Kenyan authorities.
According to Kenyan authorities, the majority of the bodies discovered in a jungle near the Indian Ocean port of Malindi belonged to followers of Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, a cab driver-turned-preacher accused of inciting his church members to starve themselves to death “to meet Jesus.”
The 50-year-old founder of the Good News International Church surrendered on April 14 after police entered Shakahola woodland on a tip-off.
Coast Regional Commissioner Rhoda Onyancha, who made the announcement, said 26 persons had been arrested in connection with the deaths, including Mackenzie and a “enforcer gang” entrusted with ensuring that no one broke their fast or fled the forest refuge alive.
She stated that detectives would halt exhumations for two days in order to reorganise their activities till next Tuesday.
On Wednesday, a court ordered Mackenzie to be held for three weeks more until further investigations into the “Shakahola Forest Massacre.”
While malnutrition appears to be the leading cause of death, some victims, including children, were strangled, beaten, or suffocated, according to Johansen Oduor, chief government pathologist.
According to court documents filed this week on Monday, several of the corpses had their organs removed, with police charging the suspects engaged in forced harvesting of body parts.
There have been questions asked about how Mackenzie, a father of seven, evaded law enforcement for years despite a history of radicalism and previous court issues.
President William Ruto has since established a commission of inquiry into the killings, as well as a task team to investigate religious body legislation.
