Siaya: Serial killer on the loose causes panic, fear after five deaths reported

He has no social media footprints. Police have developed his profile but have yet to trace him. They believe he has stopped using a mobile phone that could have made it easier for sleuths to track him and bring him to book.

But beneath this mystery is the rising body count of victims murdered in cold blood and in almost a similar pattern in the once quiet Gem in Siaya. A majority of the victims are school girls and women.

Some were sexually assaulted. Others were brutally dismembered, with body parts dropped in various areas.

Early this week, irate villagers stormed the home of a suspect they believe was involved in the killings and set his house on fire and destroyed his crops.

The mob also torched the house of the suspect's mother. They believe he had a hand in the brutal murder of one of the victims whose body parts were found in different locations. One body part was found at a bar in the Sagam area.

This happens as revelations by a witness, who escaped death by a whisker after the suspected serial killer approached her and her cousin with monetary gifts before disappearing with the latter, painted a horrifying picture of the face behind the mysterious deaths.

A cousin of Elizabeth Atieno, a Form Two student at Uranga Secondary School, who was murdered in cold blood, recounted to her grandmother how the man sweet-talked them.

Her grandmother, Margaret Anyango, narrated how Atieno accompanied her younger cousin to pick up school uniform donation in Yala town.

"On the way back, a man approached them, telling Atieno she was beautiful and wanted to marry her," Anyango said.

"The cousin felt uncomfortable and asked Atieno to leave. The man promised Sh100 for her silence and urged them to be patient. He said he was from Barklare and offered to walk them home."

The cousin left briefly to fetch water from a relative's house, but when she returned, Atieno and the man had disappeared.

The family reported the incident at Yala Police Station and the chief's camp. The next day, news came on radio that a girl's body had been found in Sagam.

The family went to the morgue, where they identified Atieno's body by her nails. Several days later, her mutilated head was discovered in a toilet at a village elder's home. The family is awaiting DNA tests to confirm the identity.

"We are very frustrated and saddened. We want justice for our child," said Anyango.

The family of Angel Atieno, a Form Three student at Sagam Secondary School in Gem, Siaya County, is also yet to come to terms with the loss of their kin.

Angel went missing after retiring to bed at her brother's house on the night of May 25. When in the morning she failed to turn up for breakfast before going to school, the family was concerned.

"I asked my son to check the latrine, but she wasn't there either. I was worried because she always came for breakfast at 5am and was usually the first," said Harun Otiende.

Unknown to the family, Angel had become the latest victim in a series of killings that have left the village shattered and fearful. In the past month, five schoolgirls have been murdered, their mutilated bodies found in different locations.

Upon realizing his daughter was missing, Otiende reported the matter to the village elder and the assistant chief. Soon after, Otiende's uncle called to inform him that Angel's body had been found on the main road.

"I saw my daughter lying naked, with deep cuts all over her body," Otiende recalls.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) is investigating the case, but no breakthrough has been made so far.

The day after Angel's death, another teenager, Emma Akinyi, a student at Yala Township Secondary School, was also murdered. Like Angel, Emma's body bore deep cuts. A pair of socks had been stuffed in her mouth.

On July 5, the body of Veronica Odongo, a 46-year-old woman, was found in Ulumbi village.

Nominated MCA Cynthia Ndar has called on security agencies to urgently solve the cases and bring the perpetrator to justice.

"This is clearly the work of a serial killer. It should not be dismissed as a random act," she said.

Gem Yala Deputy Sub-County Police Commander Charles Wafula said investigations were going on.

"We have identified a suspect, but he remains at large," he revealed.

Police suspect the killings are cult-related. Clothes found at one crime scene are aiding the investigations.

Meanwhile, the body of a man was yesterday found near Kodiaga, heightening fears in the community.