Kenyan Death Cult Search Finds 100 Dead Bodies With Missing Organs
Though the title may seem sensational, it is true. Paul Mackenzie, the leader of the Good News International Church, is responsible for 112 deaths - men, women, and children. The Good News International Church was a doomsday cult orchestrated by Mackenzie in Shakahola Forest, Kenya. The cult leader believed that the world would end on April 15th, so he told his followers to starve themselves, saying that dying before the end of the world would get them into heaven to meet Jesus. (Reuters, 2023) Most died of starvation, while some children and women were found suffocated and beaten. After his followers were dead, Mackenzie buried the bodies in the woods. After multiple reports of missing people, the police uncovered the mass death. The current recovery of the bodies is ongoing but is an incredibly difficult process due to the thick plant life in the forest. Autopsies on the recovered bodies have revealed that organs were harvested before and after death. Chief Inspector of the case Martin Munene believes that organ trafficking was highly likely in the case.
Mackenzie was not alone in this crime. A prominent televangelist, Ezekiel Odoro, was also arrested last month in connection to the disappearances. Odoro is believed to have received large amounts of money following the deaths of Mackenzie's followers. Also, some deaths have been linked to Odoro's church, with the victims then being moved to the mass graves in Shakahola Forest. Odoro is also linked to selling the houses of the victims and laundering money for Mackenzie. Authorities also believe that the organ harvesting plot is grander than just Mackenzie and Odoro, with twenty bank accounts being frozen in relation to the investigation. (France-Presse, 2023) It is highly likely that more arrests will come in the following weeks.
The Timeline
The arrests and timeline of the crime imply that there was a large amount of organization in the crime. After reports of missing people were made in early April, police began to search for them, stumbling across around thirty mass graves in Shakahola Forest. On April 14th, Paul Mackenzie handed himself into authorities for the crime. By then, all of his cult followers were dead, with some starving, suffocating, or being beaten. Odoro would remain free until he was arrested on April 27th. A week later, Odoro would post bail, while Mackenzie remained in custody without formal charges. Autopsies on the recovered bodies began in late April and early May, revealing the missing organs.
The bleak story is still ongoing, with more bodies being exhumed from the mass graves.
References
France-Presse, A. (2023). Autopsies reveal missing organs in Kenya cult deaths, say police. The Guardian. [online] 9 May. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/09/autopsies-missing-organs-kenya-cult-deaths-police [Accessed 10 May 2023].
Reuters (2023). Forest search resumes for Kenyan death cult victims of ‘highly organised crime’. Reuters. [online] 9 May. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/forest-search-resumes-kenyan-death-cult-victims-highly-organised-crime-2023-05-09/ [Accessed 11 May 2023].
