NAIROBI, Kenya Oct 14 – A 29-year old man suspected of being a serial killer and rapist was arrested in Ruiru on Thursday in what police described as a major breakthrough in unresolved murder cases.
Paul Magara Morara was wanted for the murder of three women since last year, in separate incidents that shocked and instilled fear on residents in the neighbourhood and across the city.
“The man who has killed three ladies and seriously injured four within the period, was arrested in a security operation by Ruiru-based detectives,” the DCI said Thursday.
He had committed other criminal offences but police found it difficult to trace him because he was not known by his real names. “The masked hitman was only known by his alias name, Mkisii,” the DCI said.
According to police, the suspect struck ladies at night, killing and seriously injuring some before removing and escaping with their inner clothings.
The first incident linked to the suspect occured in 2020 when a woman was found dead in her room with her breasts chopped off, police said.
“It all started with one such shocking incident in 2020 at Kiunguru area around Ruiru Bypass, when a woman who had been seen with a man at night before she was found dead in her room, with one of her breasts chopped off,” the DCI said in a statement.
Following the scanty leads obtained from the crime scene, detectives pursued the anonymous killer unsuccessfully.
Another incident occurred in January this year involving a young lady.
The victim was found murdered at a local lodging in a similar style, moments after she was spotted with Morara, according to the DCI.
“After months of receiving several related murder and attempted murder incidents all reported by female victims, another lady was found murdered in her rental house at Magorofani area of Wataalam,” the agency said, “The mysterious agent of death had caused untold panic and terror in the area, with word having it that a vampire was roaming in the dark hunting down women.”
The George Kinoti-led agency said that its detectives launched a major manhunt for the suspect following an incident on September 7, when the suspect is accused of having broken into the house where two sisters aged 18 and 19 lived, before stabbing them and seriously injuring them.
The detectives said that one of the victims of that attack is still admitted at Kenyatta National Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.
“As pursuit for him heightened, the bloodthirsty monster crept into the house of a couple when they were deep asleep early morning (Wednesday), stabbing the woman in the neck and vanishing in the dark in seconds,” the DCI added. She suffered serious injuries.
A security operation was launched leading to the arrest of four suspected criminals who named the 29-year-old as the one behind the killings and attacks.
“Hours of interrogations on the four revealed that one of them, 25-year-old Moses Moogi Okemwa was an accomplice of the prime suspect, who jointly executed some of the attacks,” the agency said.
He was ambushed and arrested on Thursday morning.
Police said the suspect was found in possession of a backpack containing a hammer, seven female panties and an electrical bulb holder.
Police investigations show the man had joined a cult in 2013, which promised to be paying him for every kill on a woman.
“Strangely, showing a woman’s pant would confirm that he indeed deserves a pay. He had however, been double-crossed after a Sh30,000 down-payment, but continued with the monstrous attacks,” the DCI added.
This incident comes a day after a 20-year old man described by police as a “bloodthirsty murderer”, who confessed to killing at least 10 children escaped from police custody under unclear circumstances.
Masten Milimo Wanjala who was arrested in mid July and police said he had confessed to have killed at least ten minors in different parts of the country.
Soon after his arrest, he took police to at least six murder scenes in Nairobi’s Shauri Moyo and in Western Kenya where he had dumped the bodies and was taken to court days later.
Three police officers were arraigned at the Milimani Law courts Thursday over the escape but were not charged after the prosecution asked for two weeks to complete investigations. A court ruling will be made Friday on the application.
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