‘I killed 17 people,’ kidnapper tells police

A man has confessed to 17 murders across the country, police said on Tuesday.

The former watchman with G4S told police he did not act alone but kidnapped, extorted ransom and killed with two other people.

The watchman who was arrested in Nairobi on Thursday last week has not only named his accomplices but has been leading police to where the bodies are buried.

He chillingly recounted how, even after killing their victims, he and his gang would still extort money from relatives. The gang targeted women and children.

The guard’s confession to police led to Sunday’s recovery of remains of two of his victims, nine-year-old Antony Njirwa and another yet to be identified, in a bush near Lenana School, Nairobi.

The search was extended to the shores of Lake Naivasha on Tuesday after he told detectives that he dumped bodies of another nine-year-old boy, Natan Baraza and a 22-year-old woman on the shoreline.

A pair of sandals Natan wore on March 21, the last day he was seen alive, was recovered from a spot on the shore where the suspect said he killed him.

Ms Joyce Khaemba, the boy’s mother, identified the sandals as that of her son.

Strangled

The man killed his victims when he was stationed at a flower farm adjacent to the lake. He also told police that he killed every time his employer moved him to a new station.

His accomplices are still at large.

A detective on the case told the Nation that the man in custody has confessed to killing women who worked as prostitutes in Thika, Naivasha and Nyeri.

On Monday, police escorted him to lodgings in Naivasha town where he claimed to have strangled several women.

The Nation reported in February that four prostitutes were strangled by a man who lured them into lodgings in Thika Town by posing as a customer.

The man killed the women after having sex with them and the deaths remain unsolved to date. Ms Hellen Nyambura and Ms Jackline Wambui, both 25 years old, were among the victims.

Ms Wambui’s naked body was found at Suitable Lodging House, in Thika on February 1, a day after a man picked her from a bar on Uhuru Street, the town’s red-light district.

A week before, Ms Nyambura’s body had been found at Rwamagambo, another lodging, also in Thika. She, too, was last seen alive in the company of a man.

The suspect, according to information by police, has confessed to having killed 17 people since last year.

Recovery for the Naivasha victims was called off after hours of searching, as the lake’s waters had submerged areas where the suspect said the bodies were buried.

The operation was led by Special Crime Prevention Unit chief Richard Katola.

Little Natan was last seen alive after watching a football match at Karuturi Stadium next to the flower farm where he lived. The following day, his captors dropped a note at the farm’s main gate demanding Sh85,000 from the family for his release.

Attached to the note was a piece of cloth from the shirt he was wearing when he disappeared.

The note also gave a mobile phone number to which the relatives were supposed to send the money, via M-Pesa. Strangely, the suspected killer had given his real account and thus authored his own downfall.

“We sent Sh2,000 and his name was displayed after the transaction was done. We then reported the matter to the police,” said Ms Khaemba.

Even after the guard was arrested, his accomplices made yet another call on Monday demanding the rest of the cash, promising to release the boy.

Went dead

“The recent calls came through different numbers. The other number they had used before went dead. I’ve seen the suspect and he worked here as a guard for the flower company,” his mother added.

Police made a breakthrough by using mobile phone tracking technology.

The suspect was found with a cell phone which had been used to withdraw Sh4,000 via M-Pesa. The cash had been sent by nine-year-old Njirwa’s father, Mr Samuel Muiruri.

On arrest, he led police to a wooded area in Lenana School where the skeletons were found.

Raise money

The bush was cleared today under the supervision of Dagoretti District Commissioner Cornellius Wamalwa.

In the Nairobi incident, little Njirwa was kidnapped from his home in Ngando, near Lenana School, on April 6.

His father paid the Sh4,000 as part of the ransom demanded by the abductors and was trying to raise more money, unaware that his son was long dead.

The suspect even called on Wednesday last week, a day before he was arrested, demanding more money, but Mr Muiruri insisted on a meeting rather than sending the cash by phone.