A mobile phone belonging to a woman who has been missing since February 2024 in Mukuru slums, Nairobi is among those recovered from suspected serial killer Collins Jumaisi Khalusha.
The mobile phone belongs to Christine Mwende Mathina, who went missing in the same area.
This now increases to three, the number of people who have been identified from the 13 bodies so far recovered from the Kware dump site.
“As of now, police have three families whose testimony can support murder charges against the accused persons,” police said on Friday.
These are the families of Josphine Mulongo, Roselyne Akoth and Christine Mwenda.
The latest developments came after some family members walked to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations headquarters and reported that they were searching for their missing daughter Christine.
After the interview, they narrated that on February 27, 2024, at around 1800hrs, Christine’s mobile phone numbers went unanswered while she was within the Mukuru Kwa Njenga area.
Christine used to sell Safaricom lines to new subscribers within the larger Embakasi Area of Nairobi.
On that day, she had plans to meet in the evening with her boyfriend namely Brian Ngumbao at her house.
The boyfriend was to travel from Thika, Makongeni area to Mukuru kwa Njenga, and they were in constant communication.
Around 1800hrs, Brian called her two Safaricom numbers but they both went unanswered, he told police.
Around 1830hrs, Brian called her using one of the lines and it was answered by a male voice.
On inquiring where Christine was and who was answering her phone, the male person said that Christine had gone to a nearby shop to buy food for supper.
But shortly after, the phones went off.
This prompted Brian to travel to Kwa Njenga where he found Christine’s house locked, he said.
He had his own keys and on opening, he noted that her purse containing her National Identity card was still in her house with some clothes on the seat.
He again called her phones but they were off.
He asked the neighbours if they had seen her only to be told that she was seen entering her house that morning, changed her clothes and then left.
He spent the night there waiting for her to come, but all in vain, police say
The next day Brian informed her parents in Kitui County that Christine was nowhere to be found and they advised him to keep looking for her.
On February 29, Brian called her parents to inform them that he would file a missing report at Villa police station.
The parents informed him that they would join him later in the day.
Brian reported the matter at Villa police station vide OB NO. 12/29/02/2024 at 0957hrs.
When the parents came, they went with Brian to Villa police station for an update but they were referred to DCI Embakasi for more assistance.
A few days later, the family removed her belongings from her rental house as she had not paid rent for several months, they said.
On July 12, 2024, the family heard about the incident in the Kware area where bodies were being retrieved from a dump site.
Consequently, the family decided to report the matter at DCI headquarters on Thursday, July 18 where they recorded their statements.
According to police, they also provided the IMEI number for the missing person’s handset to the homicide team.
This IMEI was run against the phones already recovered from the three suspects already in custody.
“The IMEI matched a mobile that was recovered from Collins Jumaisi's house. This was a clear indication that Collins was in possession of Christine’s missing phone,” police handling the matter said.
The team advised the family to avail themselves at City Mortuary Friday to see if they could identify Christine, as well as DNA sampling.
The team is also in the process of analyzing the call data records for both the suspect and the victim to establish if they had any communication prior or if they shared the same location with Khalusha.
Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Director Mohamed Amin confirmed on Monday that the suspect revealed he killed 42 women between 2022 and July 11, 2024, when he murdered his last victim.
Amin said the suspect said his first victim was his wife whom he strangled to death, and dismembered before dumping her remains in the dumpsite.
This was after they disagreed on how she ran down businesses he had opened for her.
"Upon interrogation, the suspect confessed to having lured, killed and disposed of 42 female bodies at the dumpsite all murdered between 2022 and as recent as July 11, 2024," said Amin.
"The suspect alleged that his first victim was his wife Imelda Judith Khalenya whom he strangled to death before dismembering her body and disposing of it at the same site. From the interrogation, all his victims have been murdered in the same style."
Amin added that Khalusha was arrested Monday morning in Kayole after officers from the DCI and the National Police Service (NPS) conducted a joint operation.
"A search led to the recovery of 24 Airtel SIM card holders, 8 smartphones, a laptop, a hard drive, two flash drives, a machete believed to be used to dismember the victims, 12 nylon sacks similar to the ones used in stuffing the bodies, a pair of industrial rubber gloves, six ID cards for men and two for women," said Amin.
Other items included:
"One pink female handbag, two female panties, five rolls of cannabis, four huge clear cello tapes some of which were recovered at the scene, a reflector jacket, two title deeds, two notebooks and assorted documents."