Four of the 30 bodies found in Shakahola Forest and examined on Tuesday showed signs of murder.
The post-mortem examinations of the four bodies revealed that the deaths were caused by strangulation, smothering, and blunt object trauma.
According to the most recent post-mortem results, the rest died of starvation, with the exception of six people whose cause of death could not be determined.
“Eight of them were male and 22 were female. We did autopsies of 15 adults and 9 children. There were six persons who we weren’t able to determine for certain whether they were adults or not because of the level of decomposition,” Chief Government Pathologist Dr. Johansen Oduor said.
One of the four bodies that showed signs of murder was a child who was hit on the head with a blunt object, another who was strangled, and two adults who died of asphyxia.
“We could clearly see rope marks on the neck of one of them. We have also recorded some broken bones in the neck. We are sure that this person, a child, was strangled to death,” said Oduor.
“The results also revealed that two of the victims were smothered to death.”
Human rights organisations have objected to their exclusion from the autopsy, but the Dr. Oduor-led team claims their presence is not required.
The collection of DNA samples from members of 28 families of missing people believed to be members of Paul Mckenzie’s cult will continue.
