Kotakethana mysteries resume - After woman goes missing

BY CASSENDRA DOOLE AND LANKESH GOONERATNE

The Kahawatte mystery murders seem to be continuing as a woman 39-years-old, a mother of three children was reported missing in the Kotakethana area, Kahawatte yesterday (5), the Police Media Unit told Ceylon Today.
According to the Police the woman disappeared at around 1:00 a.m. The Police suspect that the woman has been murdered and the body has been hidden. Police said that 17 women have been murdered before yesterday's incident. Fifteen of these murders have occurred between 2008 and 2011.

The victim is a resident of 94 B in the Kotakethana area in Kahawatte. The Police had been alerted by the woman's husband who had arrived home and found his wife missing.
The Police further mentioned the room the victim had been sleeping in was covered in bloodstains when the Police arrived on the scene.

According to investigations, by Police it has been revealed that the back door of the house was opened and a bloodstain was seen in the kitchen area as well.
A search operation is currently being carried out by the Police and the special task force (STF) to search for the missing woman.
Kahawatta in the Ratnapura District repeatedly hit the headlines a couple of years back due to a series of murders that began in 2008 and continued for several years.
After the first murder on 21 July 2008, the next four years were somewhat dark and gloomy due to one murder or the other cropping up every now and then.

The Kahawatta murders were such that, whispers of a 'serial killer' on the loose was also heard every now and then.
The victims of the previous murders were all women living in houses where there were no men and most of them were raped before or after they were killed. In some instances, the killers even burned the bodies.

The Kahawatta killings started on July 21, 2008 and the first victim was 56-year-old Sellaiya Maria in Kotakethana, Opathawatta area. She was strangled to death. The same year on November 19, 52-year-old U. Ariyawathie was killed in a similar manner. More women were killed in 2010 and 2011. At the beginning of 2012, 52-year-old Nayana Nilmini and her daughter, Kavindya Chathurangani, were killed in what was reported as the first double murder in the area. This was followed by two more double murders, taking the number of women killed since 2008 to 14. The 15th victim was a 66-year-old woman. The murders seemed to come to a complete halt after the police arrested the former Godakawela UPFA Pradeshiya Sabha member, L. H. Dharmasiri, his brother and two other people in connection with the double murders.
The question now is have they really stopped? Or will the reign of terror in Kahawatta rear its ugly head once more?