Rwanda: Unmasking Kazungu - Suspected Serial Killer is a Former Teacher

8 September 2023

New details about Denis Kazungu, the man suspected of killing and burying several people - mostly young women - in his rented residence in Gashikiri village, Busanza Cell, in Kanombe Sector, Kicukiro District, have shed some light on his past.

The 34-year-old had, in the past, done various jobs including a stint as an English teacher, entrepreneurial ventures in Uganda and Kenya, and even had a job contract in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, though there is no evidence he ever travelled to the country.

Kazungu, a resident of Gashikiri village in Busanza cell, a Kigali suburb, was apprehended by the Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) on Monday, September 5, on charges of murdering several individuals and burying their remains in a pit he dug in his kitchen.

In an exclusive interview with The New Times, Antoine Mutsinzi, the Executive Administrator (DEA) of Kicukiro District, on Friday, September 8, shared more information about the suspected serial killer whose story shocked many people.

Not much is known about Kazungu's family, friends, network or support system, at this stage but inquiries continue. According to Mutsinzi, the suspect claimed that he is an orphan but has not provided much additional information.

Operated a school in Remera

What is known, for sure is that Kazungu has secondary school-level academic qualifications and claimed to have run his own school - as a business - in the past. He was teaching English in the school.

"According to him, the school was situated in the Remera area, and he conducted evening classes," Mutsinzi said.

Furthermore, Mutsinzi said that, as already discovered, Kazungu was involved in various business endeavors, though specific details about these enterprises are yet to be uncovered. The suspected serial killer made trips to Uganda and Kenya, purportedly for business purposes.

Strangely, information obtained indicates that Kazungu had previously worked with the Marriott Hotel in Dubai, despite the fact that there is no concrete evidence indicating that he had ever visited the Middle Eastern country.

"Among his documents includes a passport which shows travels to Kenya and Uganda. We also found a contract for employment as a security guard with the Marriott Hotel in Dubai," Mutsinzi said.

The ongoing investigation will include efforts to trace Kazungu's previous places of residence to determine whether he may have committed similar crimes in those areas.

"Considering the malevolence he demonstrated, it is unlikely that he only engaged in these acts for only a year. It is possible that he committed such atrocities in other places where he previously resided, which is why we are trying to ascertain his past residences," Mutsinzi asserted.

Among the locations where he is believed to have lived is Gasabo district, with sources indicating that he was once a tenant in an apartment in an area commonly called Kwa Rwahama in the Kimironko neighborhood of Kigali.

In Gashikiri village, Busanza Cell, in Kanombe Sector, the suspect lived alone in a small out-of-the-way house where detectives from the Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) unearthed multiple bodies in a pit dug in his kitchen on September 5.

During interrogation, he told investigators that he always found his victims in bars. He would persuade them to go home with him, and he would, allegedly, rape, steal from them, and then kill them.

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