Kenyan police once described Masten Wanjala as a “bloodthirsty vampire” after he confessed to killing at least 10 children before meeting his own violent end.
Wanjala lured his young victims by pretending to be a football coach, taking them to remote locations where he strangled them or struck them with blunt objects. At times, he drugged the children, and in some cases, he even drank their blood, according to the BBC. Their bodies were often abandoned in thickets or dumped in sewers around Nairobi.
His killing spree began while he was still a teenager. In 2016, he murdered a 12-year-old girl in Machakos County, east of Nairobi. Over the next several years, he continued his crimes until police finally arrested him on July 14, 2021, in connection with the murders of two boys, ages 12 and 13.
Following his arrest, Wanjala admitted to killing at least 10 children. Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said he sometimes drained blood from his victims’ veins before killing them. He also led police to the sites where he had hidden some of the bodies.
But three months later, on October 13, 2021, the 20-year-old escaped from Jogoo Road police station in Nairobi, triggering a major manhunt. His father expressed shock at the escape and said he had no interest in seeing his son again.
Two days later, on October 15, Wanjala was spotted by schoolchildren in his hometown of Bungoma, about 250 miles from the capital. Locals quickly identified him, and word spread throughout the community. Pursued by a furious crowd, Wanjala tried to hide in a neighbor’s house but was dragged out and lynched.
Witnesses said he was strangled by the mob. The DCI later remarked on X (formerly Twitter), “The law of the jungle, as applied by angry villagers, prevailed.”
For many families, Wanjala’s death brought no closure. Grace Adhiambo, the mother of 13-year-old victim Brian Omondi, told the BBC she wished he had lived to face trial. “I would have loved to see him in court, so that I could ask why he did this — why he brutally killed our children and left us with such pain,” she said.
