dpa
Nairobi
Police in Kenya have arrested a suspected serial killer in connection with the discovery of mutilated women’s bodies at a rubbish dump in the capital Nairobi.
The 33-year-old man was arrested on Sunday evening while watching the Euro 2024 football championship final in a pub, investigators said.
They said the man has admitted murdering 42 women. He then dismembered them and put their remains in plastic bags before throwing them into a former quarry in a Nairobi neighbourhood.
"We are dealing with a psychopath, a serial killer with no respect for human life,” said Mohamed Amin, the head of the criminal investigation department.
The investigation began last Friday after body parts were found at the dump. By Sunday, the police had found the remains of nine women aged between 18 and 30.
The arrested man claimed that his first victim was his own wife, said Amin. He had strangled and dismembered her, and went on to do the same to the other women.
Investigators tracked the man down via the mobile phone of his last victim. He reportedly lived just 100 metres away from the dump.
In addition to a machete and plastic bags, personal belongings of his alleged victims were also found in his house. At the time of his arrest, the man was reportedly already looking for his next victim.
It is unclear why neither the man’s neighbours nor any of the officers at the nearby police station noticed anything suspicious. The inspector general of the Kenyan police has now replaced all the officers from the station with a new team.
The rubbish dump and the home of the arrested man are still being searched. The police called on relatives of missing persons to come forward in order to perhaps clarify their fate.
Human rights organisations have called for a national database for missing persons to be set up in the East African country in response to the discovery of the bodies.