Uganda Police Arrest a Moneylender and a Healer Over Suspected Serial Ritual Murders in Masaka
Police say the main suspect confessed to killing Jackline Natukunda, whose head was found on September 29, and link him to two more deaths. No charges have been reported.
Published
On September 29, 2026, a human head wrapped in a white polythene bag was found at Kako Cell, beside the Kako–Mukungwe road on the edge of Masaka in central Uganda. The rest of the body was later recovered at Butale Cell in Kyanamukaka. Police identified the dead woman as Jackline Natukunda, who lived in Lukaya. Her age has not been reported.
On October 11, Uganda Police announced that two men were in custody over what it called suspected serial ritual murders. The principal suspect is Kamugisha Kulaishi, 38, a moneylender from Kasala in Nyendo-Mukungwe Division. The second is a traditional healer from Kyotera District, whom police did not name and who, they allege, commissioned the procurement of human body parts. Police have not said when either man was arrested.
Almost everything known about the suspects' roles comes from police. According to the statement, signed by SP Kasirye Twaha, the police spokesman for Masaka East and West, Kamugisha told detectives the healer had hired him for 2 million Ugandan shillings and paid 250,000 in advance. He took detectives and scenes-of-crime officers through a reconstruction, showing where he says he picked Natukunda up in Lukaya before he killed her. Police also say he claimed that in one killing he consumed the victim's heart. None of these statements has been tested in court.
Police link him to two other deaths, one in Nsangi in Wakiso District and one in Sanga. They have not named those victims or said when they died, and the statement says the allegations "remain subject to further investigation." A search of his home turned up a jacket, a pair of gumboots, a saucepan and other items police suspect are linked to ritual activity. All of it has gone for forensic examination.
As of October 13, no charges had been reported and neither man had appeared in court. Both remain in police custody.
This account rests on the Uganda Police statement of October 11, 2026, and on news reports that quote it; the suspect's alleged statements are police claims, not findings of any court. Reports give his name in different orders (Kamugisha Kulaishi, Kulaishi Kamugisha); this story follows the police statement.