Rwanda police arrest serial killer suspect after finding bodies in kitchen

A suspected serial killer has been arrested after the discovery of more than 10 corpses in a pit dug in the kitchen of his Kigali home, Rwandan police and media reported on Wednesday.

Police said the 34-year-old suspect met his victims - men and women - in bars and lured them to his rented accommodation on the outskirts of the Rwandan capital.

"He operated by luring his victims, mostly prostitutes, to his home, where he stole their phones and other personal belongings before strangling them and burying them in a pit dug in his kitchen," said Rwandan Bureau of Investigation (RIB) spokesman Thierry Murangira, quoted by local media.

The Rwandan media claimed that more than 10 bodies had been found, and a source within the RIB told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that 14 victims had been counted so far.

The RIB spokesman, contacted by AFP, declined to confirm this figure, telling AFP that "the final number (of victims) will be determined by forensic investigations".

The suspect had already been arrested in July on suspicion of rape and robbery, but was released on bail for lack of evidence, said spokesman Thierry Murangira, quoted by the media.

The investigation followed its course and it was during a search of his home that the bodies were discovered in the kitchen pit.

"The suspect confessed to having learned to kill by watching (videos about) known serial killers. He dissolved some of his victims in acid," added the anonymous RIB source.

"He studied his victims before luring them (to his home) and favored those most likely to have no close family or friends" who would be concerned about their disappearance, the source added.