Ofure Akhigbe
Kenyan authorities have suspended exhumations at Chakama Ranch in Kilifi County to allow for DNA analysis after investigators uncovered 34 new bodies and more than 100 body parts in the latest phase of a probe into a suspected doomsday cult.
The discovery was made just two kilometres from the site where over 400 bodies were unearthed in 2023, linked to controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie, who remains in custody on multiple murder charges.
Police said the latest round of exhumations coincided with reports of former cult members regrouping. A multi-agency team is now investigating the circumstances surrounding the new deaths, including the recent arrests of 11 suspects after a woman reported the deaths of her children.
Government pathologists have begun preparations for autopsies, starting with X-rays, while financial investigators analyze mobile money transfers to suspects’ phones, amid suspicions that the cult’s operations continued in secret.
According to police, the cult members had rented homes in Malindi before moving to the remote, forested Chakama Ranch, where shallow graves were again discovered near mud huts.
Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja acknowledged that the vast, isolated terrain posed surveillance challenges but vowed that coordinated efforts would continue “until justice is served.”
