Carolyne Odour has expressed profound fears to the BBC regarding the fate of her two young sons, who disappeared two months ago with their father, a follower of a religious group led by a controversial figure accused of preaching starvation.
Amid an ongoing investigation into a series of deaths linked to the cult, Ms. Odour reports identifying her husband’s body at a mortuary in Malindi.
Her husband’s remains were discovered in July in Kwa Binzaro, near the Shakahola Forest, the site of a mass tragedy where over 400 bodies were exhumed in 2023, marking one of the most devastating cult-related incidents in history.
Ms. Odour is currently awaiting the results of DNA testing on more than 30 recently uncovered bodies.
“I felt pain. I barely recognised him. His body was badly decomposing,” Ms. Odour, 40, said of her husband, Samuel Owino Owoyo.
She believes her sons, 12-year-old Daniel and nine-year-old Elijah, accompanied their 45-year-old father to Kwa Binzaro in late June.
Paul Mackenzie, who calls himself a pastor, is on trial for his alleged role in the “Shakahola Forest Massacre” and has entered a not guilty plea to manslaughter charges.
Mackenzie is accused of instructing his followers to starve themselves to death in order to hasten their arrival in heaven. Concerns have also been raised that he has been communicating with his followers from prison.
Ms. Odour stated that her husband began adhering to Mackenzie’s teachings approximately four to five years ago.
“He changed, and he didn’t want the kids to go to school,” she explained. “When the kids would fall ill, he’d say that God would heal them. He really believed those teachings.”
This shift in his views on formal education and medical treatment created tension between the couple, who have six children and resided in Mudulusia, Busia county, near Lake Victoria in western Kenya.
“The teachings didn’t make sense to me,” Ms. Odour said. “When a child is sick, yes, I believe God can heal them, but I also know that when a child is sick, you take them to hospital.”
The situation escalated two months ago on June 28 when her husband left with their two youngest sons.
“He told me he was going to his home village [of birth],” Ms. Odour recounted. “The last phone call we had, he told me, ‘We have gone, God be with you.’ And I told him, ‘Have a safe trip.'”
However, Ms. Odour grew suspicious when he did not contact her again.
She later discovered that he had not gone to his parents’ village in Homa Bay county, situated near Lake Victoria, approximately 200km (125 miles) south of Mudulusia.
Following his trail, she found that he had boarded a bus from their home in Busia county and traveled with the boys more than 900km east to Kwa Binzaro in Kenya’s Kilifi county.
She alerted the police and urgently spread the word through various networks in an attempt to locate them.
Several weeks later, she received a call stating that someone matching her husband’s description was at the Malindi mortuary.
It was a devastating blow.
Ms. Odour traveled to the coastal area on August 19 to confirm her husband’s death.
She was informed that his body had been found in Kwa Binzaro village on July 19 during a police raid prompted by reports of suspicious disappearances.
Police reported that he was discovered in bushes near a house suspected of being linked to the starvation cult and appeared to have died by strangulation.
It has been alleged that some victims of the massacre were strangled if they were taking too long to starve to death.
Following an investigation by Kenya’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, 11 people were arrested in connection with the case, including three followers of Mackenzie.
The search for additional bodies resumed on August 21. To date, 32 bodies have been exhumed, and over 70 body parts have been found scattered in the forest.
For Ms. Odour, the experience has been profoundly distressing.
“You see bodies being exhumed, and you don’t even know the condition of your own children,” she lamented. “It’s very painful.”
Dr. Raymond Omollo, a senior civil servant in the Ministry of Interior, told the BBC that the government intends to introduce stricter laws to combat religious extremism and radicalization in the country.
“We are working on a bill, the religious bill, to be able to at least have certain parameters for a religious organisation – does it have a constitution? Who are the leaders? What kind of qualifications do they have?” he said.
He believes that this will help ensure that such groups are more accountable.
The exhumations near Kwa Binzaro have been temporarily halted as homicide and forensic experts prepare to analyze the remains discovered thus far.
For local residents, the recent investigation has not only been shocking but has also created hardships, as the forest is a vital resource.
“We depend on the forest for firewood and charcoal,” said George Konde, a resident of Kwa Binzaro. “Now, because of what happened, we’re not allowed to go in. They need to comb the whole forest and put a stop to these cults once and for all.”
Ms. Odour continues her agonizing wait for news of her two sons.
“I was looking forward to one of my sons going to grade 7 and the other grade 4,” she shared. “Every time I see a child wearing a uniform, I feel pain because of their absence. I don’t know how they are doing.”
Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
Eleven members of the prison service and a police officer were among the fatalities.
Actress Nandi Nyembe’s final months were marked by money problems that threatened to overshadow her career.
The earthen berm is intended to trap people inside el-Fasher, Yale University research shows.
A selection of the week’s best photos from across the African continent and beyond.
Survivors saved off Mauritania say they left The Gambia with 160 people on board.