Nakuru ‘serial killer’ leads police to another victim’s grave

The number of victims in Nakuru serial killer Moses Kipchirchir's hit list on Wednesday rose to four after he led detectives to yet another shallow grave where he claimed he buried a man he killed and in 2012.

Kipchirchir, who has confessed that he killed businesswoman Veronicah Kanini, on Wednesday led detectives to the expansive Kiptunga Forest, which is part of the Eastern Mau Forest, where he claims he buried his fourth victim, a man.

According to the Baringo County Criminal Investigation Officer Joseph Mumira, the suspect confessed that in 2012, while working as a charcoal burner in the forest, he hacked the victim using an axe before he buried him in a shallow grave deep in the forest.

"While being interrogated by the police he revealed that he had killed the victim — a man — whom he buried in a shallow grave within the expansive forest. He agreed to lead us to the scene,” said Mr Mumira.

However, police could not retrieve the body but instead took samples from the scene for further investigations.

Mr Mumira said that they have intensified investigations to establish if there could be more victims of the serial killer.

"We will continue interrogating the suspect as we try to establish if there are more people he killed and buried,” said the senior detective.

Kipchirchir has been linked to the abduction and murder of Ms Kanini, 42, whose badly decomposed body was discovered in a shallow grave on the banks of Molo River in Mogotio last month.

Shallow graves

Previously, he led police to shallow graves near Molo River at the border of Nakuru and Baringo counties, where the decomposing body of the businesswoman, together with those of his own wife and son — whom he also confessed to have killed — were retrieved.

Revelations of his criminal activities have shocked many and sparked fears that he may have killed more people.

Kipchirchir is said to have confessed while at the Mogotio Police station that he killed his wife and his 18-month-old son in September.

According to the Mogotio Sub-County criminal investigation boss, Mr Lucas Tumbo, they received information from the public that the suspect was married but his wife and child had disappeared mysteriously.

Mr Tumbo said they tried inquiring from the family of Kipchirchir’s wife of her whereabouts and they were informed that she disappeared four months ago. This prompted police to further interrogate the suspect. 

Earlier this week, the suspect is said to have confessed to killing the two and guided the police to two separate scenes of crime where he had buried them.

“After being told that he had a wife, we tried to inquire from the deceased’s family but they told us that she went missing [together] with her son. We started our investigations and upon interrogation he led us to two separate scenes where he had committed the heinous act,” said Mr Tumbo.

The badly decomposed remains of Ms Purity Chebet were exhumed from the banks of River Molo while those of her son was exhumed two kilometres from where his mother had been buried.

According to police, Kipchirchir met with Ms Chebet in 2018 in Kapnyangale village in Mogotio and they started cohabiting and later bore a son.

But in 2019, they started having marital issues which were reportedly occasioned by Ms Chebet’s drinking habit.

This angered Kipchirchir who assaulted his wife several times, leading to his arrest. He was charged with assault but the charge was later changed to causing grievous harm.

He was sentenced to one year in prison in November 2019 but was released in March 2020 before completing his sentence after a presidential pardon.

After his release from prison, Kipchirchir is said to have forcibly taken custody of his child, prompting Ms Chebet to report him to the police.

However, he tricked his wife to go back to him, promising to solve their marital problems. But he would later kill his wife and their son.