Police manhunt decomposed body

Police have launched a manhunt after they found the decomposed body of a 13-year-old girl. Image: Pixabay

Moses Sithole: The South African serial killer who murdered 38

Moses Sithole committed 38 murders between 1994 and 1995 and is currently serving his 2 410-year prison sentence.

Police manhunt decomposed body

Police have launched a manhunt after they found the decomposed body of a 13-year-old girl. Image: Pixabay

‘ABC Killer’ Moses Sithole committed at least 38 murders from 1994 to 1995 in Atteridgeville, Boksburg and Cleveland.

Moses Sithole’s childhood

Sithole was one of five children born in Vosloorus on 17 November 1964.

He and his siblings were abandoned at a police station and placed in an orphanage in KwaZulu-Natal.

Just three years later, Sithole reportedly ran away from the orphanage and eventually began working in the Johannesburg gold mines.

Crimes committed by the ABC Killer

In September 1987, Sithole reportedly raped Patricia Khumalo. In February 1989, Buyiswa Doris Swakamisa made a police report about her rape at the hands of Sithole.

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In the same year, Sithole was jailed in the Boksburg Prison for six years. He was released in 1993 for good behaviour, according to Biography.com.

Sithole claimed that he was falsely accused of rape and that fueled his dislike for women.

Sithole reportedly lured his victims by tricking them into job interviews at a children’s home. Photo: @nkulipp / Twitter

The killing spree

In early 1995, the bodies of four young black women were found in Atteridgeville. 

Following this, several other bodies sharing the same pattern of being raped, tied up and strangled with their own underwear were found.

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The media reportedly became aware of the similarities in the murders of each victim and the police admitted that a serial killer may have been operating in the area.

On 16 September 1995, a body was discovered at the Van Dyk Mine. Upon further investigation, a mass grave was found.

The bodies of 10 people were found in various levels of decomposition in just two days.

Sithole often lured his victims by staging job interviews

Sithole targeted black women aged between 19 and 45 years old.

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He lured his victims by interviewing them for a job at a children’s home. He would then take them to remote fields before beating, raping and murdering them.

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While in prison Sithole stated that he hates black women. Photo: @nkulipp / Twitter

Arrest and aftermath

Sithole was arrested in 1995 while attempting to get a firearm from a family member. TimesLIVE reports that during his arrest, he attacked an undercover cop with an axe.

He was shot three times.

Sithole faced 40 charges of rape and 38 charges of murder. His sentence is 2 410 years long and there will be no possibility of parole for at least 930 years.

Sithole is now 57 years old and is incarcerated at the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein, reports Cape Town etc.

While in prison, Sithole had a conversation with other inmates where he revealed why he committed the gruesome acts.

“I fully hate black women and even if I came back to earth as a black man I could never want a black women …I would rather masturbate,”

he was quoted saying.

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