Postmortem reveals Mwingi victims were strangled, stabbed

Police officers supervise the exhumation of bodies from a mass grave in Mwingi, on June 9, 2026. [Philip Muasya, Standard]

A postmortem conducted on the seven bodies that were exhumed in Mwingi on June 8, 2026 has revealed that some of them were strangled and others had stab wounds on the abdomen.

Chief government pathologist Dr Johansen Odour who conducted the exercise at the City Mortuary in Nairobi, revealed that two victims were strangled and three had a head injury. 

Dr Odour said they were unable to ascertain the cause of death of two victims since theire bodies were totally decomposed.

"Our final analysis of the bodies, they were decomposed significantly, all of them. Some parts of the body have become skeletal," said the chief government pathologist who was accompanied by from officers from the homicide department. 

Dr Oduor said they collected DNA samples from the bodies for identification of the victims in case their kin show up.

"They can go to a chemist for matching so that now we can be able to know who these people really are. We always take samples for toxicology because we need to be sure who these people are also and whether there are any toxins involved in their death," he said. 

The bodies of six men and one female were transported from Kitui County to Nairobi on Thursday last week.

The Chief government pathologist said the bodies appeared to have stayed for about three months before they were discovered in shallow graves.

Odour revealed that it was decided that the exercise be conducted at Nairobi Funeral Home since the facility at Mwingi could not accommodate the bodies and the process.

The bodies were discovered on June 8, 2026 after information emerged about suspected human remains buried in shallow graves opposite Mwingi Catholic Church along the Mwingi-Garissa Highway.

A multi-agency team later recovered four bodies, all male, from the site.

The recovery followed earlier discoveries in Kanginga area, where three other human remains were found between April and May, including a severed female head.

The grim findings have heightened fear and anxiety among residents of the town.