Homicide detectives have finished preparing for step five of the exhumation of Shakahola mass murder victims.
According to sources familiar with the exercise, the exhumation is scheduled to continue on Monday, June 3.
Detectives from the Department of Criminal Investigations (DCI) homicide department will carry out the exercise in coordination with other officers.
Last week, the state handed over the last of 34 bodies that had been positively identified. Over 400 remains had been stored in refrigerated containers outside the Malindi Sub-County Hospital mortuary.
The Nation confirmed that preparations were in full gear inside the Shakahola forest, as DCI officers were setting up needed logistics, which were concluded on Sunday.
“We will target a total of 34 mapped gravesites in the Shakahola forest,” a source who requested anonymity for lacking authority to comment on the matter told Nation.
In this phase, the graves will be located using the Global Positioning System (GPS) for easy identification and subsequent exhumation to hasten the process.
The targeted area is within where 429 bodies of the deadly religious doctrine were exhumed in the previous four phases.
Among the victims of the religious massacre were 184 children and 245 adult men and women whose bodies were exhumed.
A majority of the bodies are still awaiting positive identification and eventual release to respective family members for burial.
