NAIROBI: Kenyan authorities launched a major manhunt on Tuesday following the dramatic escape of Collins Jumaisi, a man accused of murdering and dismembering 42 women, from a police cell in Nairobi. Jumaisi, described by police as a “vampire” and “psychopath,” fled custody along with a dozen other detainees on Tuesday.
Jumaisi, 33, was arrested last month after the discovery of mutilated bodies in a garbage dump in Mukuru, a slum in Nairobi. The bodies, found in plastic bags at an abandoned quarry, shocked the nation and heightened scrutiny of Kenya’s police force. Jumaisi’s arrest followed his confession to a series of gruesome murders spanning two years, including that of his wife.
According to police spokeswoman Resila Onyango, the escape was revealed during a routine check around 5 a.m. on Tuesday, when officers arrived to serve breakfast to the detainees. The escapees had managed to cut through the wire mesh in the basking bay, an area where prisoners are allowed limited access to fresh air. The escaped group included Jumaisi and 12 others, all of whom were being held for immigration violations.
The incident has prompted a large-scale security operation to recapture the fugitives. The Nairobi police station from which Jumaisi and the others escaped is located in the upmarket district of Gigiri, which houses the regional headquarters of the United Nations and several embassies.
This escape is the second high-profile case of a suspect fleeing custody in the past six months. Earlier this year, Kevin Kangethe, accused of murdering his girlfriend in the United States and abandoning her body in an airport car park, escaped from a police station but was apprehended a week later.
Jumaisi had appeared in court on Friday, where a magistrate ordered his detention for an additional 30 days for investigations. His arrest came after the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) reported finding ten butchered bodies in Mukuru, just meters from a police station.
The shocking discovery in Mukuru followed the earlier revelations of the Shakahola forest massacre, where more than 400 bodies were found in mass graves. This incident involved a Kenyan cult leader accused of encouraging his followers to starve themselves to death as part of apocalyptic preparations.
Directorate of Criminal Investigations chief Mohamed Amin had described Jumaisi as a “vampire” and “psychopath” after his confession. The KNCHR and the Independent Police Oversight Authority are conducting their own investigations into the Mukuru case to ensure no extrajudicial killings were involved and to determine any potential police misconduct or failure to act.
Kenya’s police force has faced longstanding allegations of unlawful killings and hit squads, but few officers have been held accountable.
