According to officials, the initial autopsy on corpses discovered in mass graves related to a Kenyan pastor suspected of urging followers to fast to death show malnutrition as the cause of death, but some victims were asphyxiated.
Experts doing the first post-mortems on more than 100 remains discovered in a coastal forest evaluated nine children ranging in age from one to ten, as well as one mother.
“Most of them had features of starvation,” chief government pathologist Johansen Oduor said following the autopsies in Malindi’s hospital morgue.
“We saw characteristics of people who had not eaten — there was no food in the stomach, and the layer of fat was very thin,” he explained.
“We examined all of their bodies, and all of their organs were intact.” So far, no one has gone missing.”
“From what we’re hearing, there was some indication that they were being smothered, which can be one of the causes of asphyxiation,” Oduor noted. It was found in two children.”
Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, the cult leader, is accused of encouraging followers to seek God through starving.
The preliminary death toll is 109, which includes a small number of persons who were discovered alive but died on the route to the hospital.
“The exhumation process was temporarily halted because experts advised us (that) when it rains, that process cannot continue,” Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki previously stated.
Investigators will also collect DNA samples to aid in identification, though the full results might take months, according to Oduor.
“In general, all of the bodies are decomposed, which makes calculating the time of death very difficult,” he explained.
According to Kindiki, preliminary assessments indicate that “some of the victims may not have died of starvation.” Other methods were used, including harming them.”
Nthenge founded the Good News International Church, a Christian-based cult.
Investigators believe he has ties to Ezekiel Odero, the head of the New Life Prayer Centre and Church, who was arrested last Thursday.
Odero is accused with murder, assisting suicide, kidnapping, radicalization, crimes against humanity, child cruelty, fraud, and money laundering.
Last week, Prosecutor Peter Kiprop stated that there was “credible information” linking bodies discovered in Shakahola forest to the deaths of several “innocent and vulnerable followers” of Odero.
According to court documents, Odero and Nthenge have a “history of business investments,” including a television station used to broadcast “radicalized messages” to followers.
The two pastors are currently detained and are scheduled to appear in court in separate places on Tuesday.
In statements on April 24, newly elected President William Ruto declared there was no distinction between rogue cult leaders and “terrorists.”
“I have instructed the agencies responsible to… get to the root cause… of the activities of… people who want to use religion to advance weird, unacceptable ideology,” he stated.
