For a month, residents of Rongai in Nakuru County lived in fear as the bodies of three women and a minor were discovered in maize plantations, each bearing signs of brutal violence.
The investigation appeared stalled until Ezekiel Sakwa Mwangi ,19, was arrested on Sunday in Ngata area while travelling from his suspected hideout in Naivasha.
This sent shockwaves through Olrongai when it was revealed that the prime suspect, who allegedly committed these heinous crimes, was living an ordinary life as a student at Olrongai Secondary School.
Sakwa, a former inmate, had previously been jailed for defiling his two-year-old sister and killing his cousin, who reported the incident.
And upon completing his three-year jail term in January 2024, he returned to the community convincing villagers and elders that he was reformed.
Ezekiel Sakwa Mwangi posing for a photo.
Photo credit: Pool | Nation
Sakwa was taken in by the family of John Gakuru in Olrongai, who hosted him for five months, unaware of what police now say were his dark intentions.
He had claimed to be homeless, saying his mother had died and his father had disowned him while his brother in Nairobi refused to take him in.
Out of compassion, the Gakuru family enrolled him in Olrongai Secondary School after learning of his desire to finish his education and become a journalist.
Mr Gakuru bought for him school uniform and with the local MCA’s bursary support, Sakwa was admitted as a Form One student.
Accounts compiled by police investigators paint the picture of a man living a double life. Initially, he seemed to make progress, being respectful and obedient, with teachers speaking well of him. He even helped the family with chores and washing the car on weekends.
However, cracks began to show five months later.
Sakwa was said to have been found with a knife, which he claimed he intended to use against a female student who had wronged him.
After a warning from his guardians, he was given another chance.
Soon after, he was also allegedly caught with a toy gun, threatening fellow students. This led to his expulsion from school.
Feeling guilty for failing the family Sakwa requested to leave. On August 13, he insisted on departing and the Gakuru’s took him to the area chief. After giving him Sh300, they left him in the local administrator’s care.
But a week later, the family was shocked to find him back at their compound. By then news of bizarre murders had spread across the area, raising suspicions about him.
Upon seeing the police, Sakwa fled into a maize plantation and his eventual arrest revealed suspicions that the young man who had shown intention to change the course of his life could have turned into a cold-blooded murderer.
A homicide detective enters the homestead of John Gakuru who hosted Ezekiel Sakwa Mwangi, the alleged Nakuru serial killer for five months at his home in Ol Rongai. Sakwa is suspected to have murdered three women and a five-year-old girl between July 13 and August 7.
Photo credit: Boniface Mwangi | Nation
Sakwa, who had been taken in as a son was now being investigated for the murder of at least three women and a child, leaving the community shocked. The alleged crimes were committed within the very community that believed him to be an innocent person, who had reformed after being imprisoned.
"His arrest has left us in disbelief. We all knew him as a good person. He told us that he had changed, and we accepted him after prison. We never imagined he would become a murder suspect. We just hope the detectives will conduct a thorough investigation so that the families get justice," said a resident, who declined to be named for fear of his security.
At only 19 years old, Sakwa earned the label of a suspected serial killer after allegedly confessing to murdering three women and a five-year-old girl in separate incidents across Rongai Sub-County. The victims include five-year-old Blessing Ayuma, 28-year-old Vella Moraa, 34-year-old Cooperative Bank Nakuru Branch employee Florence Mueni, and 46-year-old Virginia Njeri.
Ezekiel Sakwa Mwangi, 19 is taken to Molo Law Court on August 20, 2024 accused of multiple killings in Rongai, Nakuru. The suspect will be detained at Menengai Police Station for 30 days in order to allow the Investigation officers to conclude investigations. The case will be mentioned on September 19, 2024.
Photo credit: John Njoroge | Nation
Sakwa is alleged to have confessed to the murders according to police records, revealing to detectives that he randomly picked his victims, robbing them of their valuables, before murdering them. He claimed to have acted alone.
He detailed how he accosted his first victim, Blessing, on July 13 in an attack investigators believe involved defilement. The body was
According to an autopsy report, the cause of Blessing’s death was a blow to the back of the head. She also had stab wounds to her skull and rectovaginal fistula.
His suspected second victim, banker Mueni, whose body was discovered on August 7 by a young boy hunting birds.
Her mutilated body was found in a maize plantation, with her ears and thumb chopped off and disposed of a kilometre from her home. Detectives say Sakwa told them that a day after murdering her, he returned to the scene to mutilate her, claiming he was taking the body parts to an unidentified person in Nairobi.
The suspect’s third victim was Moraa, a food vendor whose body was dumped in a maize plantation in Mustard Seed Estate after she went missing. Preliminary investigations revealed that her body had multiple head and facial injuries, believed to have been inflicted by a sharp object. A murder weapon was recovered at the scene.
On August 5, Sakwa is alleged to have attacked his fourth victim, Njeri, at Menengai Crater, where she had gone for prayers. He is suspected to have used a sharp object to kill, defile, and dump her body in a cave.
Sakwa, now detained at Menengai Police Station, is under investigation for the murders, with the court granting detectives 30 days to complete their probe. The case will be mentioned on September 19.
