Detectives on Saturday exhumed 22 more bodies from mass graves in Shakahola Forest, Kilifi County, on land linked to cult leader Paul Mackenzie.
This increased to 201, the number of bodies so far recovered from the place.
Mackenzie is being investigated for crimes including aiding suicide, after allegedly convincing members of his Good News International Church to starve themselves to death in order to meet Jesus.
The cult leader and tens of suspects have been arrested amid investigations and a court case to establish what happened in Shakahola.
One more suspect had been arrested by Saturday, Coast Regional Commissioner Rhoda Onyancha said as she gave updates in a press briefing, raising the total number of suspects to 26.
Onyancha further reported that no rescues were made on Saturday and that the number of people reported missing had increased by one since Friday, to 610.
She also said that 14 victims had been reunited with their families and that the number of DNA samples collected stood at 93.
Onyancha further announced that the exhumations had been suspended for two days – until Tuesday, May 16 – to allow reorganization of logistical support.
On Thursday, a Mombasa court allowed an application by the police to have the Shakahola cult leader Mackenzie and his wife Rhoda Maweu detained for 30 days.
Sixteen other people suspected of working in cahoots with the infamous pastor will also be held for the same period.
Shanzu Principal Magistrate, Yusuf Shikanda ruled that the respondents’ safety and security may be at risk if released on bond.
Top police commanders flew to the site amid reports of finding more cult-like churches in the region.
Deputy Inspector General of Kenya Police Douglas Kanja and Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin who arrived in the region on Thursday will oversee a planned operation on new cult centres that have been discovered.
Police have identified 20 new grave sites which they are working on.
Witnesses said the two rescued were fasting and praying in a thicket when the security teams arrived.
It shows they have been without food for more than two weeks now since when the area was cordoned off and declared a disturbed area.
The government has sent a 30-day cancellation notice to the New Life Church of Pastor Ezekiel Odero and the Good News International ministries of Mackenzie.
The two churches have been under investigation for the Shakahola cult in which more than 200 people starved themselves so they could go to heaven.
Others, post-mortems revealed, were strangled and suffocated.
They were all buried in mass graves.
The second phase of the exhumation exercise started Tuesday with Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki presiding over the process, which he described as a legal, medical, and human rights exercise that must be undertaken methodically and carefully to protect the dignity and privacy of families of the deceased persons.
Kindiki said 26 people have so far been arrested, and the investigation team is closing in on level two and level three perpetrators who aided the cult leader Paul Mackenzie to execute the heinous atrocity.
The entire 50,000-acre Chakama ranch remains a security area and scene of the crime with limited access for all persons who are unauthorized.
Dozens more bodies are believed to be buried in shallow graves therein.
Mackenzie, who is in police custody, is being investigated for influencing his followers to starve to death in order to meet their maker.
Police also suspect that some of the victims did not starve to death and may have been killed and then buried on the property.
He has denied wrongdoing but has been refused bail.
He insists that he shut down his church in 2019.
The followers say he told them to starve themselves in order to “meet Jesus“.
