A serial killer allegedly murdered women he met in bars and buried more than ten of his victims in a hole he had dug in his kitchen in Rwanda, it has emerged.
The 34-year-old man, identified as Denis Kazungu in local media, was arrested on Tuesday and confessed to studying his victims before stalking them and luring them back to his rented home in a suburb of the capital Kigali.
Kazungu admitted to cops that once his victims, who were mostly prostitutes, had entered his property, he would rob them of their belongings before strangling them to death and dumping their bodies in a hole he had dug in his kitchen.
Horrified police officers discovered more than ten decomposing bodies piled up in the pit as they searched the man’s home after he admitted to the murders.
Kazungu confessed that he had learned to kill from watching documentaries on famous serial killers and would pick mostly women who were prostitutes as his victims because they were most likely to not have any close family or friends who would look for them, police said.
A source in the Rwanda Investigation Bureau said the number of victims discovered so far was 14 but Thierry Murangira, a spokesman for the RIB, declined to give a final number until forensic investigations were completed. The victims have yet to be identified.
Kazungu admitted to police that he dissolved some of his victims in acid, meaning that there could be more victims whose bodies will never be found.
He had initially been arrested in July on suspicion of robbery and rape among other offences but was granted bail due to a lack of evidence, Murangira said, quoted by local media.
But on Monday, police had gone to Kazungu’s rented property to evict him after his landlord told them he had defaulted on rent for the last seven months.
A police officer told Rwandan newspaper The New Times that Kazungu put up a fight.
‘He apologised and cried excessively, which raised our suspicions. We detained him and I personally took him to the police station,’ the official said.
‘It is at the police station where he confessed to having killed some people, prompting RIB to investigate his residence.’
Cops arrested the suspected serial killer on Tuesday and searched his home, leading to the discovery of the bodies dumped in the pit he had dug in his kitchen.
‘The suspect confessed that he learned to kill from watching famous serial killers. He dissolved some of his victims in acid,’ the RIB source said.
‘He would study his victims before stalking them and usually went for those that are most likely not to have close family or friends to look out for them.’
Murangira said the suspect had confessed during interrogation to the killings and that preliminary investigations had found the victims were both male and female.
‘He operated by luring his victims, mostly prostitutes, to his home where he would rob them of their phones and belongings and then strangled them to death and buried them in a hole dug in the kitchen of his rented house,’ he added.
It is believed that most of Kazungu’s victims were women he had met at bars, police say.
His neighbours told local media that at times they heard women screaming in the night – but they didn’t think there was anything untoward happening.
A survivor who escaped from the serial killer’s clutches reportedly led to his arrest – but police say he confessed after being evicted for not paying his rent for seven months.
