Kenyan authorities uncovered new human remains on Thursday, August 21, 2025, near the site of the 2023 Shakahola starvation cult, deepening concerns about the scale of one of the country’s worst human tragedies in recent memory.
During the latest exhumation exercise in the Kwa Binzaro area of Kilifi County, about two kilometers from Shakahola Forest. Investigators unearthed five bodies from shallow graves and collected ten body parts found scattered in nearby thickets.
Forensic teams have also marked 27 additional suspected mass graves, raising fears that more victims are yet to be recovered.
Police confirmed that eleven individuals linked to the sect have been arrested, though none have been formally charged.
The operation is being carried out by homicide detectives, forensic experts, and pathologists, who are working to identify the remains and determine the cause of death.
The fresh discoveries come two years after authorities first raided Shakahola Forest in April 2023, where members of the Good News International Ministries, led by preacher Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, were found to have starved themselves to death in what was described as a doomsday cult ritual.
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By the end of that operation, over 400 bodies, many of them children, had been exhumed, making it one of the deadliest cult-related tragedies in the world.
Mackenzie was arrested in 2023 and, along with several associates, remains in custody facing terrorism, murder, and manslaughter charges.
Kenyan investigators have since described the case as evidence of extreme religious indoctrination, with victims reportedly coerced into believing that death by starvation was the path to salvation.
With the Kwa Binzaro discovery, authorities now fear the cult’s reach may have extended beyond Shakahola Forest.
Excavations are expected to continue in the coming weeks as officials work to uncover the full extent of the deaths and deliver justice for the victims’ families.