Three bodies exhumed from Shakahola Forest have been found with signs of asphyxiation and strangulation, and one with trauma to the head.
Government pathologist Johansen Oduor and his team started conducting postmortems on exhumed bodies at Malindi mortuary on Monday.
One of the bodies had signs of trauma on the head, an 11-year-old girl was found to have been strangulated, while an adult male and female were smothered.
On Monday, the team conducted 10 autopsies and 30 more on Tuesday.
Oduor said they expected to do the same number on Wednesday and complete the postmortem on Thursday.
They had 70 more bodies to go.
“By Thursday we might be able to do what we are doing here so that we move back to the scene when things are good, we resume the exhumation process,” he said.
The 110 bodies were exhumed from Shakahola Forest in Kilifi county; a case that has gripped the country and the world.
They were members of Good News International Church, a cult whose leader Paul Mackenzie reportedly brainwashed his followers to starve to death to meet Jesus.
Mackenzie has been arrested and arraigned, but has denied any wrongdoing. He is in police custody.
Oduor said they established that most of those exhumed died of starvation.
“Twenty of the autopsies we did had features of starvation. There were six in which we were unable to ascertain the cause of death because of the level of decompositions,” he said.
The pathologist said most of the bodies were badly decomposed and only a few were moderately decomposed.
For instance, he said, six bodies of adults were found lying between the bodies of an adult male and an adult female but could not be identified because of the level of decomposition and skeletonisation.
Women make up most of the victims; at least 22 of the bodies examined were female, eight male and nine children.
Oduor said they had collected 27 DNA samples from relatives looking for loved ones.
The government pathologist said all internal organs were intact in the bodies so far examined.
“Generally most of them had features of starvation, we saw features of people who have not eaten, there was no food in the stomach, the layer of fat was very small, the liver was fatty,” he said.
The exhumation of bodies was halted due to the rains but it is expected the team will go back to the forest after the pathologist completes the autopsies.
Police have asked the court to allow them to hold Mackenzie and his co-accused for 90 days to complete investigations.
The court will make a ruling on Friday.
On Tuesday the multi-agency operation team conducting the rescue mission at Chakama ranch arrested one person and rescued two female adults from Shakahola Forest.
Coast regional commissioner Rhoda Onyancha said so far 48 people have been rescued.
"We have had two rescues and 24 arrests made so far," she said.
Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya