NAIROBI, Kenya — The number of people who have died in connection with Kenya’s doomsday cult passed the 400 mark as detectives on Monday exhumed 12 more bodies believed to be followers of a pastor who ordered them to fast until dawn. death to meet Jesus.
Pastor Paul Mackenzie, linked to the cult based in a bushy area in Malindi, on the Kenyan coast, is in police custody, along with 36 other suspects. They all still have to be loaded.
Coastal regional commissioner Rhoda Onyancha said on Monday the death toll rose to 403, with 95 people rescued.
Last month, some suspects and rescued people went on hunger strike at the prison and rescue center, prompting the prosecutor to put them on trial for attempted suicide. Most agreed to return to eat, but one suspect died in custody.
Some 613 people have so far been reported missing to Kenya Red Cross officers stationed in the city of Malindi. Detectives keep finding mass graves.
Onyancha said that 253 of the 403 bodies had undergone DNA tests. Pathologists had previously said that most of the bodies were decomposed.
Mackenzie moved to the wooded area in 2019 after her church was closed for her preaching, which included asking children not to go to school.
He was previously arrested and released on bail for missing children.
A judicial commission of inquiry formed by President William Ruto to establish what happened and who was responsible was quashed by court order after opposition leader Raila Odinga filed a petition against him.
The president had called what happened in Malindi “akin to terrorism” and vowed to crack down on “those who use religion to promote their heinous acts.”
