Mob snatches serial killer from police, lynch him and throw body into Yala River

There was drama in Yala area, Siaya County when a mob snatched a suspect from the police and lynched him.

The mob later threw the body into Yala River as police watched from a distance in the Thursday drama.

Police had earlier been led to Kibos area in Kisumu and arrested one Charles Onyango Odhiambo alias Kwa who was wanted over claims of being a serial killer. He had been linked to a series of murder incidents in Siaya.

Police said he was found with a machete at the time of his arrest at about 4 am on Thursday.

He was then taken to Yala police station for detention pending an investigation.

Few hours later at about 7 am, a team of detectives picked him up from the cells to a place where he said he had dumped some bodies of his victims.

By then, word had gone out that the suspect was being held at the station and a mob had gathered along the busy Kisumu-Busia Highway.

As the police drove with the suspect to the scene where he claimed he had dumped some bodies, the mob blocked the road from both sides and demanded that the suspect be handed to them.

This caused a standoff even as the mob stood their ground saying they feared the suspect will be freed by the courts and go back to haunt them.

Police said the mob snatched the suspect from them and started to stone him. The team lobbed teargas canisters to the mob as they fired to the air in vain.

The mob stoned him to death before they set the body on fire and then dragged it to the nearby Yala River where they dumped it.

Police later retrieved the body from the water and took it to the mortuary for preservation and autopsy.

The residents had been living in fear saying the suspect targeted women for murder. It is not clear what motivated the suspect. To the locals, the issue is now a closed chapter.