Some of the family members of the deceased who went for indications at the place where the bodies were found
Herald Reporters
POLICE have intensified investigations into the case in which four bodies — three men and a woman — were found in an abandoned truck with gunshot wounds in Binga on Monday.
The incident occurred near Ngongonye Bridge along Kariangwe Road and no arrests have been made.
Early Monday morning, police responded to a report of a traffic accident near the bridge but it turned into a quadruple murder probe after all four victims were found with fresh gunshot wounds. One had been beheaded.
Chief police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba on Wednesday said initial investigations and leads found so far indicated that the accident could have been stage-managed to cover up for a murder case.
“Investigations are currently in progress and the matter is being investigated as murder,” she said.
“Circumstances are that on the day in question, a report of a road traffic accident involving an Isuzu twin-cab vehicle was reported at Binga Police Station,” she said.
Snr Asst Comm Charamba said on attending the scene, police discovered that one man was lying on the river bed covered by the vehicle’s loading box.
She said another body of a woman was found in the front cab of the vehicle while the third body of a man was found at the back seat of the same car.
“All the three bodies had gunshot wounds on their heads. During the course of investigations and at about 2.10pm, another dead body of a male adult was discovered in a nearby maize field about 1,5 kilometres from the accident scene with a decapitated head,” Snr Asst Comm Charamba said.
She said three cartridges of an AK-47 rifle, a Motorolla cellphone and some papers were also found at the scene.
Police in Binga believe all four victims were killed and loaded into a white pick-up truck which was then pushed into the road to fake a traffic accident.
Sources said on Tuesday night that police had found, in the vehicle, a traffic ticket issued by traffic police in Luveve to one Mudzimu — suggesting the truck was recently in Bulawayo.
Officers were working around the clock to identify the victims and piece together their last movements.
Investigators would also be seeking a possible motive for the horrific crime, and police sources said it was unlikely to be the work of a single killer.
Gun crimes in Binga are usually connected to elephant poaching — but shooting incidents usually involve game rangers, the police and poachers.
A Binga resident who spoke to our Bulawayo Bureau said locals were speculating that the four dead had arrived in the area on a mission to buy ivory, but things went sour ending in the killings.