Masten Milimu Wanjala is a 20-year-old Kenyan who hit global headlines after he confessed to the gruesome murder of over a dozen children.
The self confessed serial killer left the country in chills after he recounted to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) how he lured unsuspecting children before killing them.
He was arrested by the police in Shauri Moyo on Wednesday, July 14, 2021 in connection to the death of two children, after which he led to the officers to the location of their bodies.
“20-year-old Masten Milimu Wanjala, in a shocking revelation, admitted to having kidnapped the children and executed them in cold blood during interrogation he revealed to detectives that he executed the harmless children and dumped their bodies,” the police stated.
Background, Family & Education
Masten is the son of Robert Wanjala Watira and Edna Nabalayo. However, the two separated before he was born.
According to Watira, Edna got married again somewhere in Machakos County.
He says that he only knew the son’s mother, and having never stayed with Masten for long, he does not know him too well.
Edna introduced Masten to his father when he was 18. He has a step sister named Gladys Wanjala.
He also has a cousin named Moffat Wanjala who is an egg vendor and resides in a one-bedroom rental house at Gracious estate in Kitengela, Kajiado County.
Watira was willing to recover the lost time between him and his son, so he enrolled him at nearby Namakhele Primary School.
Masten, however, attended the school for one term before he disappeared. He returned later, this time alone, and showed signs of wanting to stay longer.
Speaking to the media from his home in Namakhele, Bungoma County, yesterday, July 15, 2021, Watira stated that he had tried to give his son a better life but he refused.
“I advised him to enroll in one of the vocational colleges and make something out of his life. But he did not seem to be interested. He took some slight interest in football, played here locally, but then vanished again,” Watira said.
Masten again disappeared in 2020 after Gladys informed his father that he was wanted for the murder of a child in Machakos and was hiding at his father’s place.
“When he came home and found his sister, he disappeared fearing that he had been exposed and I have never seen to date,” Watira narrated.
He conceded that he never got to know his son as much as he would have wanted, but he does not condone his actions a bit.
“As his father, I am not part of his wrongdoings. I tried to give him a better life but he disappeared. He should carry his own cross,” Watira stated.
Killings
Masten is said to have developed a thirst for blood while still a young teenager. He executed his first killing while aged 14.
From 2015, he committed a series of murder across four counties; Bungoma, Machakos, Nairobi and Kajiado. With each murder, he marked on his calendar, the name against the date.
The DCI stated that, in some instances, he drank his victim’s blood before strangling them to death.
“The victims were either forced to drink, sniff or were sprayed with the substance before the horrendous acts were committed on them,” DCI Boss George Kinoti stated.
To cover his tracks, he disposed off the bodies of his victims in pit latrines, thickets and sewer lines.
“Unbeknownst to some of the worried families, their children were long devoured by the beast and their remains dumped in thickets in Lower Kabete (for Nairobi victims). Others were submerged in sewer lines in the city and left to rot away!” Kinoti stated.
In his first ordeal in 2015, he kidnapped 12-year-old Purity Maweu from Kima Kimwe, Machakos County. He sucked her blood and left her for dead.
Her body was discovered day later and her relatives buried the remains. It was only yesterday, July 15, that they learnt how their daughter succumbed.
In 2019, he struck again in Kimilili, killing a 13-year old boy named Aaron by strangulation.
In 2020, he murdered Augustine Mukhisa,13, at Chwele in Bungoma County. The boy’s body was discovered stashed in a sack and dumped in a pit latrine next to his father’s house.
Police say, he fled the village after carrying out the act.
He also killed another boy named Austin, 12, from Kitengela and dumped his body in a sewer along General Waruinge Street in Nairobi. His body is yet to be found.
Masten also lured another boy by the name Josee, 13, from Mlolongo and just like Austin dumped his body in a sewage along General Waruinge Street in Nairobi.
He strangled his other victim, Musa, stashed his body in a sack and dumped it at at Eastleigh’s 12th Street roundabout.
In December 20, he lured two street boys from Mathare and Eastleigh, strangled them and dumped their bodies in different places.
On June 30 and July 7 this year, he kidnapped and strangled 13-year-old Charles Opindo Bala and 12-year-old Junior Mutuku Musyoka. He dumped one body near Kabete Approved School and the other in a thicket near Spring Valley in Westlands.
He had attempted to reach their parents, seeking ransom from both, when they failed to raise the money, he killed the children.
The distraught parents informed the police who tracked the signal to his hideout in Kitengela where he was arrested. He then led the police to the locations where he had dumped the bodies.
Approved School
Masten is said to have been remanded at the Kabete Approved School a while back, and that is how he is believed to have known the areas in Nairobi where he dumped his victim’s bodies.
Accomplices
On July 15, Masten claimed that he committed the murders with the help on an individual he only identified as Isaac.
He alleged that Isaac aided him in committing the murders in Kitengela and other areas.
Masten told the police that he committed the first murders with the help of four individuals. He identified them as three men and one woman, though he did not reveal the names.
“Niliuwa mtoto wa kwanza huko kwetu nyumbani halafu wakanipea dawa, hiyo ndio inanifanya niuwe (I killed the first child back in the village and then I was forced to take some concoction, that is what drives me to kill),” he stated when asked on what motivates him to carry out the heinous acts.
