Forensic examinations of 33 bodies recovered from a mass grave at Makaburini Cemetery have revealed a harrowing breakdown of the victims’ final moments.

According to government pathologist, Dr Richard Njoroge, the findings have revealed a harrowing reality, with all 25 victims examined to date being children of varying ages, ranging from premature infants to full-term babies.

The pathology team was able to determine the gender of most of the children, identifying 10 girls and 8 boys.

However, due to the severe state of decomposition of many of the remains, the gender of 7 other victims could not be identified.

“They were in various stages of decomposition; only a few are fresh. The other ones were severely decomposed. In terms of age, some appeared to have been preterms, and the others were normal-term children. In terms of gender, we found eight to be male. We found 10 to be female, and then we could not determine the gender of the other seven,” Njoroge noted.

Cause of the death

Njoroge further revealed that four children died from head injuries, while 10 were determined to have died from premature birth. In two cases, the cause of death could not be established.

“In two cases, we could not determine the cause of death. Prematurity was the cause of death we found in 10. And then some sort of head injury was found in four. So that may again make it a total of 25,” Njoroge said.

The first phase of the post-mortem examinations focused on the 25 children recovered, with autopsies on the remaining eight adult bodies scheduled for Friday, March 27, 2026, as investigations into the grim discovery gather pace.

Bodies exhumed

At least 33 bodies were exhumed from a mass grave at a cemetery at the Makaburini Cemetery in Kericho County on Tuesday, March 24, 2026.

Officials had earlier indicated that 14 bodies were buried at the site, but it has since emerged that 33 bodies were exhumed. These included 25 children. There were also six body parts, which included both upper and lower limbs.

On March 23, 2026, at around 9:30 a.m., two suspects were arraigned before the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Kericho.

The probe

The development follows a shift in focus by the DCI on March 22, 2026, when detectives began probing the transfer of 13 unclaimed bodies from Nyamira County after a suspected mass grave was reported at Makubirini Cemetery in Kericho East Sub-County.