Ugandan security forces have arrested Moses Mujurizi, a man suspected of killing at least 38 people over 15 years and of consuming body parts of most of his victims. Authorities believe he could be the most prolific serial killer in the country's history, and he now faces the death penalty.
Arrest Announced by Military Chief
Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba announced the capture in an official statement published on Ugandan news site Monitor. He branded Mujurizi "evil" and pledged to use every means at his disposal to have him executed.
Gen Kainerugaba said: "I am glad to inform our fellow citizens that the security forces have arrested the evil Mujurizi Moses. The worst serial killer and cannibal in Uganda's history. We will try him in public and definitely execute him."
Decade of Terror Ends
The detention brings to an end more than a decade of terror across Uganda, as officers struggled to establish who was responsible for a series of brutal killings dating back to 2009. As far back as 2013, police were cautioning that a succession of murders could potentially be connected to the same unidentified individual, who they believed was travelling between locations on a motorcycle.
In numerous incidents, authorities confirmed that several individuals had perished in the same assaults, with accounts suggesting that the perpetrator would tunnel or bore through walls to access his targets' residences.
Family Killings and Repeated Detentions
One particularly disturbing case from 2013 saw the slaying of nine members of one family in the Kyotera district, with five additional fatalities from two households occurring in comparable circumstances a decade afterwards in 2023.
Mujurizi was allegedly detained on multiple occasions throughout the previous decade, yet succeeded in evading custody. According to the Ugandan Radio Network, he has been apprehended once more on murder and human trafficking charges following the discovery of a deceased woman in Greater Masaka on September 28.
Ongoing Investigation
Investigators are now understood to be labouring intensively to connect Mujurizi to the series of horrifying cannibal slayings, and deliver closure after 17 years of suffering and uncertainty for the victims' relatives.
