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A suspected serial killer has been arrested in Kenya following the discovery of several bodies at a quarry in Nairobi, with police saying on Monday he had confessed to killing 42 women including his wife.

Police said Collins Jumaisi, a 33-year-old man living near the quarry in the Mukuru neighbourhood in the south of the capital, was arrested early on Monday.

The acting head of police, Douglas Kanja Kirocho, said nine bodies had been recovered so far from the quarry.

“It is crystallising that we are dealing with a serial killer, a psychopathic serial killer who has no respect for human life,” said Amin Mohamed, the head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.

Jumaisi confessed that he lured and killed 42 women and dumped their remains at the quarry, Mohamed said.

The murders stretch back to 2022, starting with Jumaisi’s wife, with the most recent on July 11, Mohamed said in the televised statement.

At Jumaisi’s home, police said they found several mobile phones, identity cards, a machete they believed was used to cut up the victims, industrial rubber gloves, rolls of sellotape, and a dozen nylon sacks similar to those in which the victims were found.

Huge crowds gathered to watch the remains, many of which were dismembered, being retrieved from the quarry over the weekend, with some engaging in running battles with police.

A government spokesperson shared a police statement on X on Friday saying that the authorities were analysing samples to identify the deceased and that investigations were underway.