NAIROBI - A suspected Kenyan serial killer of children who said he drank the blood of his victims is believed to have been killed by a mob in his home town days after escaping custody, police said on Friday.
Masten Milimo Wanjala, 20, was arrested in July in connection with the disappearance of two children, and police said he had confessed to the murder of 10 children in several parts of the East African country over the past five years.
Wanjala was due to appear in court in Nairobi on Wednesday in connection with the murder of two children, aged 12 and 13, but did not appear for the morning roll call.
"Special service agents had been on his trail in Western Kenya, but unfortunately he was spotted by villagers in Bungoma, and beaten to death before our agents re-arrested him," the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) wrote on Twitter on Friday.
Bruno Shioso, the National Police Service spokesperson, said they were investigating to verify the body was that of Wanjala.
"We are trying to do some basic verification on the body to make sure the person killed by the mob was him," Shioso said by phone.
Shioso said children on their way to school had spotted Wanjala and raised the alarm, prompting some villagers to chase and corner him inside a house where he was killed.
Mike Mbuvi Sonko, former governor of Nairobi County, had earlier announced a 200,000 shilling ($1,800) bounty for anyone with information leading to Wanjala's re-arrest.
($1 = 110.8500 Kenyan shillings)