The incident came to public attention in March of 2023 when a concerned man reported to the police that his wife and daughter, who had traveled from Nairobi, Kenya, to join Paul Nthenge Mackenzie's remote Good News International Ministries in Kilifi County had not returned.

[3] Over the following three weeks, police began their search of the 800-acre (3.2 km2) property, finding more shallow graves and additional survivors who were starving to death.

"[9] On 26 May, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki declared that Mackenzie hired criminals armed with crude weapons to kill followers who changed their minds about fasting and wanted out, as well as those who took too long to die.

"[20] On September 18 The Nation reported that a total of 429 bodies had been exhumed from Shakahola Forest, adding that “The latest data indicates that 214 died from starvation, 39 from asphyxia, 14 from head injury, while 115 remain unascertained, and others from other causes.” [21] Mackenzie, his third wife Rhoda Mumbua Maweu and 16 other members of the group were arrested by authorities and are being held in police custody as of 7 May 2023.

[26] "Mackenzie brainwashed his converts using William Branham's End of Days Theology, and convinced them that starvation could hasten their escape from this life to be with Jesus," detectives from the homicide unit said.

"[28][29][30] However, on 10 May, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki refuted these assertions as "politicisation of the probe into the massacre," and advised the public to "treat [allegedly missing body parts] as rumours.

According to the Citizen Digital news service, “The prosecution made an application to have them remanded in prison because the rescue centre can no longer hold them.

In his ruling, Shanzu Senior Principal Magistrate Yusuf Shikanda said the state had failed to prove why Maweu should continue being held with the other accused persons.

[4] Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said, "This horrendous blight on our conscience must lead not only to the most severe punishment of the perpetrator(s) of the atrocity on so many innocent souls, but tighter regulation (including self-regulation) of every church, mosque, temple or synagogue going forward.