A 28-year-old man who is suspected of having killed four close family members in Muhoroni Sub County, Kisumu County was Sunday night arrested, police said.
Shem Akuku Otieno was arrested at a sugar plantation in the area while frail after he had swallowed a cattle dip poisonous chemical.
He had tried to die by suicide before he was caught, police said.
It was a reprieve to the locals who had feared he would re-appear for more attacks, police said.
Otieno later told police and locals he would die anytime as he had swallowed the chemical before he was rushed to the Muhoroni Sub County Hospital where he was admitted under watch.
Nyanza police chief Patrick Tito said they will wait for his recovery for interrogation and further action.
Tito said they are yet to establish the motive of the killings but hoped they will do so soon.
Locals and police said Otieno picked a machete before killing his expectant wife of five months first, then turned to his only six-year-old son who was then sleeping in a bed.
A relative said an uncle of the suspect and his stepmother too were killed in the 9 pm incident.
The man lured the 70-year-old uncle to come out of his house to intervene in an imaginary fight between some family members.
And the moment he stepped out, he was hacked on the head twice and he dropped down dead.
He is also said to have killed his 58-year-old aunt who was the wife to the deceased uncle before disappearing into a nearby sugarcane plantation.
Locals described him as a man who has had no history of violence.
The suspect then fled into the sugarcane plantation leaving the villagers terrified of where next he would strike.
Police said the villagers did not sleep opting to keep vigil for the suspect if he re-appeared to attack.
The suspect is said to have even bought lunch for the family on Saturday before he turned violent hours later.
He was arrested a day later on Sunday.
Police moved the bodies of the victims to the Ahero Sub-County Hospital mortuary pending postmortem examinations.
