Four out of 30 Shakahola forest victims were murdered - Autopsy reveals

Four of the 30 bodies which were dug up from Shakahola Forest and examined on Tuesday showed signs of murder.

The post-mortem results of the four bodies revealed the cause of death as strangulation, smothering and blunt object trauma.

The latest post-mortem results also show that the rest, save for six whose cause of death couldn't be determined, died of starvation.

"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.

Of the four bodies that showed signs of murder; one of them, a child, was hit on the head with a blunt object, another one was strangled, while two adults 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 bodies have protested their exclusion from the autopsy, but the Dr. Oduor-led team says their presence isn't necessary.

The exercise will continue alongside the collection of DNA samples from members of 28 families of missing persons believed to have been members of Paul Mckenzie's cult.