NAIROBI, Kenya, June 16 — Postmortem examinations conducted on seven bodies exhumed from a suspected mass grave in Mwingi, Kitui County, have confirmed that the victims died under violent circumstances, including strangulation, stab wounds and severe head injuries.
Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor said findings from the examinations showed that two of the victims died from strangulation, while two others sustained fatal stab wounds to the abdomen.
Oduor further revealed that investigators were unable to determine the cause of death for two of the bodies due to advanced decomposition.
“We were unable to establish the cause of death for two of them due to decomposition. Three had stab wounds, with one having significant head injuries,” he said on Tuesday after the examinations.
The discoveries have intensified investigations into what police suspect could be a serial dumping ground for murder victims in Mwingi Town.
The bodies were recovered from a site in the Kasina area of Mwingi Central after residents alerted authorities over suspicious activity in a nearby thicket on June 9, 2026.
Police officers who responded to the reports discovered multiple shallow graves containing the bodies.
Investigators believe some of the victims may have been killed elsewhere before their remains were dumped at the site.
Earlier assessments at the scene indicated that several of the bodies had been carefully arranged inside the shallow graves, with visible signs of assault, including blunt-force trauma to the head.
Authorities said none of the seven victims has been identified so far, and no relatives have come forward to claim the bodies since their recovery.
The remains have been preserved as investigations continue, with authorities urging families with missing relatives to present themselves for possible identification through DNA testing at Government Chemist laboratories.
Forensic experts have already preserved DNA samples from the bodies to facilitate future identification once relatives are traced.
Investigators have also collected toxicology samples to determine whether poisoning or exposure to chemical substances may have contributed to the deaths.
Police say investigations into the killings and the circumstances surrounding the dumping of the bodies remain ongoing.
