A suspected serial killer linked to the brutal murders of women and young girls in Siaya county was killed by a mob in Yala town, hours after being arrested by police during a late-night operation.

Charles Onyango Odhiambo, alias Kwa, was cornered in the Kibos area of Kisumu on Tuesday night, following a tip-off from members of the public.

His arrest marked the end of a three-month manhunt during which he repeatedly evaded capture.

“We got intelligent information from members of the public who informed us that the suspect was hiding in Kibos area within Kisumu City. We managed to arrest him,” said Yala Sub-county Police Commander Charles Wafula.

The arrest was conducted minutes before midnight in a coordinated operation between officers from Kisumu and their counterparts in Gem Yala sub-county.

The suspect was immediately taken to Yala Police Station, where he was detained pending arraignment and further investigations.

However, events took a tragic turn early Wednesday morning. Police officers were escorting Odhiambo to another suspect’s hideout when angry members of the public intercepted the police vehicle and forcefully took him.

“The police, in company of the suspect, were heading to a hideout where another suspect was when the angry members of the public accosted the police vehicle, overpowered them and took him out of the police vehicle,” Wafula confirmed.

The suspect was lynched on the spot. His body was later moved to Yala Sub-County Hospital Mortuary, where it awaits a postmortem as police pursue the second suspect Odhiambo had allegedly named.

Odhiambo was believed to have mainly targeted women and young girls, whom he sexually assaulted before killing.

One of the most disturbing cases tied to him involved the murder of 15-year-old Elizabeth Atieno Ochieng, a student at Uranga Secondary School.

On July 11, decomposing body parts — including a human head and palms — were discovered inside a pit latrine in Kachola village, Sagam, in Gem Yala sub-county. The remains were believed to belong to Atieno.

“The CCTV camera recorded the suspect with two girls in Yala town on July 3rd. The two girls were the late Elizabeth Atieno and her younger sister — they had gone to pick uniforms at one of the shops within Yala town,” Wafula said in an earlier interview.